EverStart anglers charge onto Lake Champlain
TICONDEROGA, N.Y. – Some 330 EverStart Series anglers took off in the shadow of historic Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York at 6 a.m. Wednesday to begin their assault on Lake Champlain in the second Northern Division tournament of the year.
The tournament site, nestled among the scenic foothills of the Adirondacks, was once home to a key conflict between the French and English in the Seven Years War. It now plays host to a crucial Four Days Battle between anglers and fish as EverStart competitors work their strategies to capitalize on the extremely prolific Champlain bass fishery and collect the biggest chunk of the $210,000 total cash purse.
“It’s going to be fun,” said tournament director Jerry Stakely as boats put in at Ticonderoga City Ramp. “If we had rods and reels right now, we could catch 50 fish just off this dock.”
The Lake Champlain bass fishery has anglers drooling. This lake set weight and catch-limit records during the Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop farther north at Plattsburgh last month, and most people expect the cool, clear waters here on the southern end to be just as generous for EverStart anglers this week.
In short, watch for competitors to weigh in five-bass limits – and lots of them. The fish are in a reachable post-spawn pattern, and weather conditions are sunny and northern cool. It’s not going to come down to who catches the most fish, but who catches the biggest.
Weigh-in begins Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Ticonderoga City Ramp located at the end of Fort Ticonderoga Road.
Today’s conditions
Sunrise: 5:34 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 62 degrees
Expected high temperature: 75 degrees
Wind: from the north at 9 mph
Relative humidity: 75 percent
Day’s outlook: partly cloudy
Day-one links: