April 2018 Report

Well our first week back on Champlain has been plagued by never ending wind & unstable water...but we have managed a few! Good weather coming, we are down to June 16,17,18,22nd, 24th and July 6th,7th,8th,19th,20th & 21st left for open dates. Give us a shout & get hooked with us!

Some times it takes a few weeks for the water to stabilize after heavy winds or fronts, this year has been no exception. who would think that with the sweltering heat that we would be experiencing some of the best trout & Salmon fishing of the season but we have! The last few weeks we have landed Trophy Steelhead, many beautiful Salmon as well as our biggest Lake Trout of the year! Lots of bait in our region of the Lake has kept these trophy fish around and putting smiles on our clients faces! We have wrapped up our summer trolling charters & pulled the Flashpoint as we get her service work done & prep her for our end of season tour out on Lake Ontario. We are still offering jigging trips for Trophy Lake Trout right with excellent numbers coming to the net as well super action that will make your arms sore for days! We will be on Lake Ontario from August 23rd through Sept 20th, then back to Champlain for our fall Bass & Pike tour. We are SO THANKFUL that we have experienced our busiest season since we started, fall dates are sure to fill fast so give us a shout early to get your dates!

Typical Hazy, Hot & Humid summer weather has moved into the Northeast but that hasn't slowed the fishing! We have had groups enjoying both our cold water trolling trips as well as casting trips taking some beautiful Bass & Pike! Trolling trips have seen plenty of Lake Trout coming to the net as well as Landlocked Salmon & Steelhead. We had an evening trolling trip last week with over 25 bites & non stop action all evening! Running Downriggers, Slidediver dipsies & copper long lines, as well as switching baits up regularly has been the key to putting Champlain Trout & Salmon in the box! The Bass ( both Large & Smallmouth) are post spawn now & putting the feed bag on! Chasing swim baits early has had plenty of hook ups, but working docks & deep water drop offs once the sun gets high has been key to putting bass on the deck threw out the whole trip! A bonus Pike or Pickerel on each trip adds to the excitement & the lure of Champlain as well as our other Vermont waters. We have been working hard to follow state advisories in keeping our boats & equipment clean daily, as well as plenty of hand sanitizer for our guests to keep every one safe. We have face masks for those that want them, but many are enjoying the fresh air that Vermont is so well known for and staying mentally healthy as enjoying a day on the water is the BEST therapy known to humanity!

Pre Spawn Bass are feeding heavily, May is a great time to get onto aggressive fish that are putting on the feed bag before the annual spawn

This is that time of year ( end of the first week of March) that one asks should i try & squeak in a few more days of ice fishing or should i begin prepping my boats & open water tackle? Most bodies of water still have safe ice at this time, but we have had 4 - 5 days of above freezing temps with marginal sub freezing at night. That combined with ice thickness well below last year tells me that we really need to pay close attention the next few days. The forcast for the next ten days is showers with only two nights below freezing and the 5 day says temps in upper 50's...i would say is time to wrap it up! A few diehards that know local ice well will still make it a another few weeks, but as a guide its to much to risk. That being said we tailed off the end of February with many groups joining us on the ice , we actually turned away over a half dozen requests during the Presidents holiday week, as this is a very popular time of year for folks to come up to Vermont & taste our winter time activities! Some days we got into them, others we swapped stories & taught lots of beginners the nuances of getting out on the hardwater!

We started off our winter after a break for fall deer season with some trips on the Salmon River targeting Steelhead! Persistent lake effect snow squalls and varying river flows had the ironheads pretty finicky. We did pick up a few in the upper river, while fishing in some of the heaviest lake effect squalls i have ever experienced! pretty cool non the less! As they say, " Classic steelhead weather!

Our Busiest Fall Yet & Winter Offerings Available Soon!

Bass, Pike & Steelie Blitz on Champlain!