ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

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tamiron
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ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

Post by tamiron »

Below is a post by one of the best anglers on Lake Champlain, who is also a number one competitor of TAMIRON, along with a little synthesis turned into an outline, and a few extra thoughts.

First some background.

As a company, Tamiron, can only learn about Champlain from two sources
1. What is posted on the forum
2. From the success or failure of its Customers who provide feedback.

My personal experience on the Lake Champlain is limited to a few days 20 years ago. The finger lakes of New York and the south shore of Lake Ontario are the source of my education along with very knowledgeable writers and Publications.

It also included a team of Lake Champlain testers which are still among the best anglers to date on Champlain.

Learning from the above sources will definitely improve your game, but cannot compare to first-hand experience from trial and/or error from you and or others that fish the same waters. Copious note taking and attention to detail, along with comparing notes from year to year is a must. Attraction type patterns will pull in active aggressive fish. Stealth patterns will appeal to less active and more harassed fish. Look for temperature, bait, structure, speed, currents, light conditions, etc.


That is the reason that I decided to borrow the post below

Don't Drink The Kool Aid Post by Crazy Ivan »

Tue May 22, 2018 7:39 am
The salmon are out there and a ton of guys are catching them, all over the lake! The 22" 4lb salmon are not dead and gone, they are hiding.
Gloom and Doom
A very smart, knowing person told me a few years back when I was complaining about the lack of decent size salmon, "Todd go to the fish, do not wait for the fish to find you. The lake is forever changing, sometimes areas of the lake change forever and sometimes it changes back. The bigger fish are out there they are just adapting to the changes around them and you need to be able to do the same thing.
Very solid advice from a person who has committed their life into making Lake Champlain a better fishery.
I think about that conversation quite a bit. Some years different spots are better than others…. then the next year its a new area or an old area. This year has been exceptionally challenging with Mother Nature dragging her feet. I have been at this a long time and I know for sure the hot bite rarely happens at the same time, same place, same date, next year.
By my crafty note taking the lake conditions are that of what in a normal year is about mid april conditions. Yes its the end of may on the calendar but the Lake thinks its mid april.


1. The salmon are out there and a ton of guys are catching them, all over the lake!
2. The 22" 4lb salmon are not dead and gone, they are hiding.
3. Go to the fish, do not wait for the fish to find you.
4. The lake is forever changing, sometimes areas of the lake change forever and sometimes they change back.
5. Some years different spots are better than others…. then the next year it’s a new area or an old area.
6. This year has been exceptionally challenging with Mother Nature dragging her feet. By my crafty note taking, the lake conditions are that of what in a normal year is about mid april conditions. Yes its the end of may on the calendar but the Lake thinks its mid april.



Todd certainly enjoys a consensus ranking as one of the best on the lake. He has spent a lot of successful time on the lake and for that reason needs to be listened to. Since I don’t fish there, I am not ever concerned about too much fishing traffic. I am sure that is why my choice is to improve the catch rates for all Champlain Anglers and is the same reason why others would prefer to keep secrets. The economic well-being of Lake Champlain depends on improving total angler success.
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dry net
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Re: ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

Post by dry net »

Fishing pressure is a huge detriment to catching fish. We try hard to fish away from the crowd but as soon as the net comes out you seem to have a lot of friends. I don't blame other anglers for this it's human nature. What we can all do better as a whole is to be more conscientious. Anglers on the ocean take turns going threw the productive water so that everyone can catch, you very rarely see someone cut off another to be the first in the hole. If we all cooperate fish catches will go up!
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C-Hawk
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Re: ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

Post by C-Hawk »

While Obviously we repect and many of us are influenced by Toddd's wise prognostications, I still lament the fact that two thirds of the Lake is not what it used to be. I find it telling that there are no huge flocks of cormorants this year, and believe it to be because they have reduced their forage base so much that they have gone elsewhere. You can find pockets of fish here and there up north here, but it is usually a long, tedious process. Gone are the days of a hot bite, where you pick up a half-dozen fish in an hour.

Being vested in northern part of the Lake, makes it difficult to " Go to the fish". I have a camper, boat lift and dock along with the attatchments of good friends and campground life that I am unwilling to give up for better fishing. I hope the rest of you can understand our complaints and for now I will settle for the occasional Broad Lake Salmon, and hope warm weather brings some fish north as in the past.
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BottomDollar
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Re: ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

Post by BottomDollar »

While I haven't been very successful on my boat so far this spring, I do have a couple of observations about the Shelburne Bay/Juniper Ridge areas: there is plenty of bait and the predators are there. But they're deep...usually down 100' in 40° water. And the water is still cold. 51° on the surface and mid 40's down to 60'. The few fish I've caught have all come on a slide diver out 130' with a 30' leader, so stealth is the ticket right now.

We're not in typical late May temps yet and the salmonids don't seem to be aggressively feeding. But they're right there on the sonar. There's a lot of action in the Shelburne Bay trench, just no takers on what I'm presenting.
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tamiron
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Re: ROAD MAP TO SUCCESS

Post by tamiron »

Please do remember that I do not advocate disclosure of specific or even approximate locations.

I do advocate sharing colors, techniques, time of day, pattern types ( passive or aggressive), and temperature. This allow for more productive "searches".

Champlain is a very large lake with many, many "holding areas".

I prefer to go to areas that are light on pressure with good depth, structure, bait and predators, temperature and current. The rest of the pieces will, hopefully, turn fishing into catching, eventually. More experimentation and documentation will turn occasional success to regular success.
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