Destination: Lake Champlain

EverStart Series, Northern Division, July 24-27

A dancing rat could settle everything during the first EverStart Series visit to Lake Champlain.

Not one of those destructive rodents known for chewing through wire insulation, dog food containers and other household goods. The rat up for discussion here is a plastic top-water bait that coaxes brutal surface strikes from moody Champlain largemouth bass when twitched across a shallow flat laced with floating water-chestnut plants and other forms of lush vegetation.

“That’s just one of the things that’ll probably be working,” says Randy Yeager, an EverStart Series pro from nearby Syracuse, N.Y. “The rat always works well around the weed beds this time of year, especially south of Ticonderoga.”

Top-water fishing can be an iffy deal on Champlain, a massive reservoir known nationally as one of the country’s top impoundments for catching numbers of largemouth and smallmouth bass in the 3- to 5-pound range. To catch limits consistently, most anglers resort to other patterns.

Yeager says grass fishing along the outer edges of milfoil beds in 10 to 12 feet of water also produces some heavy sacks of largemouth bass during the summer months. Translucent soft plastics and black/blue jig/craw combos usually produce the most bites.

“A lot of times you can catch them by casting a bait along the outer edges of the grass. But at other times you’ve got to go in there and drop it right on their heads with a vertical presentation,” he says.

Anglers may find largemouth bass in shallower water, too, especially in areas with abundant cover such as lily pads, reed beds and milfoil.

While many EverStart Series pros will elect to fish south, some will be tempted to go after smallmouth bass up north. It’s a long run. But it could be worth it.

Yeager says bronzebacks will be holding around rock shoals, points and scattered patches of milfoil in 5 to 8 feet of water. The fish will be pretty aggressive, too. So spinner baits and jerkbaits will be especially productive.

– Matt Williams

Links:

Pro field
Co-angler field
Tournament details and payouts
EverStart Series gears up for Lake Champlain tourney