The first week of September on Lake Champlain is the best smallmouth fishing of the year, and the tournament anglers know it. The bass are on the rocky points and the drop-offs from the Inland Sea down to the main lake, the pike are on the weed edges in the bays, and the lake trout are deep off the points. The water is starting to cool and everything is feeding.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week: smallmouth bass on the rocky points, the shoals, and the drop-offs in 10 to 25 feet, with the fish schooled up and feeding on the smelt and the crayfish. The Inland Sea, the Missisquoi Bay edges, and the main-lake points from Burlington to Ticonderoga are all producing. Largemouth are on the weed edges and the docks in the bays, and the pike are on the same weed edges in the mornings. Lake trout are on the deep points and the humps in 60 to 100 feet in the main lake, and the landlocked salmon are showing near the river mouths as the water cools. Bowfin and gar are in the shallow weeds for the anglers who want something different.
Where to Find Them
Smallmouth on the rock piles and points of the Inland Sea near North Hero and Grand Isle, on the shoals off Burlington, and on the main-lake points from Shelburne down to Crown Point. Largemouth and pike in Missisquoi Bay, the Lamoille River mouth, and the back bays on the New York side. Lake trout off the points near Burlington, Willsboro Bay, and the Split Rock area.
Tides & Conditions
Surface temps are in the upper 60s to low 70s and falling, which has the smallmouth grouping up on the deeper structure. The calm mornings are best for the drop-shot and the jerkbait bite, and the wind stacks the fish on the wind-blown points in the afternoon. The fall turnover is a few weeks away. Watch the wind forecast — the main lake gets rough fast.
Tackle & Tactics
Smallmouth take a drop-shot with a small plastic, a tube, or a Ned rig on the rock piles, and a jerkbait on the calm mornings. Largemouth take a jig or a frog on the weed edges. Pike take a big spinnerbait, a spoon, or a swimbait on the weed edges with a wire leader. Lake trout take a spoon or a flasher-fly on a downrigger in the deep water, or a heavy jig vertically on the marks. Salmon take a trolled spoon near the river mouths.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Burlington Perkins Pier ramp, the Grand Isle State Park ramp, the Malletts Bay ramp in Colchester, the Plattsburgh Boat Basin ramp, and the Port Henry ramp on the New York side. Fish are concentrating on the rocky points for smallmouth and the weed edges for pike and largemouth. Lake Champlain has a reciprocal license agreement between Vermont and New York for the main lake but not all tributaries, and there are seasons and size limits on bass, lake trout, and salmon — check current Vermont Fish and Wildlife and NYS DEC regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Champlain smallmouth in September are schooled up on the deep side of the rock piles. When you catch one, mark the spot and work the same depth around the structure — where there is one fish in the fall, there are usually a dozen.
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