Tough Day 9/2

[keithm87]

Me and 2 buddies launched at CG on saturday. Forecast was for light and variable with calm waves. Arrived to 1-2 ft waves and a stiff wind from the south. the prior days wind had mixed the water and moved the thermo down to 90-95ft, putting all of our traditional hotspots way out of temp. We fished the same hump we always do with heavy traffic (seems the word is out on my spot thanks to my previous posts) with no luck.

Moved south and had a rod fire... brought the line in to find toilet paper on it. THE STATE OF VERMONT NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE SEWAGE DUMPS INTO OUR LAKES it is outrageous that in the middle of one of the largest lakes in the USA we should encounter the remnants of human waste. We put millions of dollars into conservation, and whats the point? We cant get municipalities and the canadian yachts to dispose of their waste in a sustainable manor. It was disgusting and made me honestly question why I fish Champlain when there are cleaner inland lakes. Something needs to be done...

After that nasty adventure, we found fish just south of juniper in the trough between juniper island and juniper ledge. We pounded that area back and forth for an hour alone until a jigging charter that had been watching us for a time decided that it was polite to come fish the EXACT spot where we had hooked up 3 straight passes (like the exact spot, that we had marked on the map and crossed 3 times and hooked up each time) we tried trolling around them and had a couple releases but no committed fish. In 2 passes through with them sitting where we had been catching fish we watched them catch at least 3 lakers, and we got squat. On one pass we had a release and I flipped the rigger to up, forgot to shut it off, and it came out of the water, smacked the pulley, and snapped the rigger line, the ball and my chamberlain went to the bottom of the lake. as I was hooking up spare gear, my rigger line that I had not brought all the way in decided that the propeller looked interesting and decided to wrap 30ft of line around it. After fixing those messes and with the other boat sitting on the fish we had spent all day finding, we moved north again.

We trolled around the hump and had a few releases but nothing that stuck. We ended the day with 9 fish, the biggest just shy of 10lbs. We had at least 20 more releases throughout the day that didnt stick, including a stretch of 2hrs that I missed 8 straight fish before giving up my place in the rotation.

[Vtmopar]

I hear you, a lot of that waste is from house boats and sail boats too.
Its frustrating.
Sounds like you worked hard for the fish you got.
Its been a rough year.

[Trackertroller]

Tough it was!
Haven't been up to LC in a couple months.
Saw you guys on Saturday just north of juniper.
Screen looked good, but fish were not hitting. Did one small laker.
Beautiful day though.

Saw that same group of jiggers, two boats came right up to us and stopped and dropped lines.

The temps on Sunday climbed as it was 55* at 60'
But as we went to deeper water the temp break was down at 90'

We fished the whole colum Saturday and Sunday, figuring Sunday would have been the ticket, but just as slow.

Various speeds and presentations were given, but the fish had other ideas.


It is very sad that it is allowed to dump sewage from boats into the lake. All of your points are spot on.
Time for the LCU to start this petition
We got them on the lamprey control, now it's sewage control!

We had a roller bracket fail pulling out on Sunday. Waiting for parts ordered today.

[Sawyer]

Keith you had a Bad start to a nice day on the water. Finding TP on your equipment must be extremely disgusting and having the other problems too you came out on top with 9 in the Net. Thanks for your reports i look foreword to reading them.

[C-Hawk]

I have it on good authority that most of the offenders are rental boats. They can afford to rent a 40 footer for the week, but not the $50 pump-out fee. Maybe the marina operators should be required to see documentation of where their sewer went. What about the Coast Guard inspecting that the discharge outlets are sealed? This is a bigger problem than we realize, as I was told that up to 90% of rentals dump in the lake.

[D-Cypher]

There must have been something in the air. Saturday was a very humbling expierience for me.

I woke up at 3:45AM packed a lunch poured a coffee and got in the truck. Picked up my father in law at the Exit 2 park and ride and headed north.

Had the boat in the water by 6:00 and headed out to the hump north of Juniper and set up a bottom program. Fished there until around 8:00 with no fish and decided to make a move.

Made a run down to Converse Bay and set up around the temp break with a variety of spoons both on the riggers with sliders as well as a diver on each side. Fished for around an hour before what I like to refer to "The Incident" occured. We were fishing tight to the ledges off Garden Island preparing to make a turn out to the middle of the lake when we got pinned in by a group of 10 or so sailboats all in a row. The water depth came up abruptly out of 180' to around 10'. Things begain to take a turn for the worse! both downrigger balls were hung along with the 2 divers.

Hit the auto up button on the riggers blew both fuses and broke both swivel pins in the bases. Ended up losing everything! 2 balls, 2 releases, 2 divers, 6 spoons, and 2 spin doctors.

Finished the day with 0 fish, broken gear, and about $250 in the red!!!

A tough day indeed!!!!

[Smitty]

Nice Report sorry to here of all the bad news, it blows me away how little respect some have for there surrounding's.

[Captain Paul]

Keith you make some good points about Rude behavior and the waste that is dump in the lake.
One pointer for you make sure you set the drag on you're downriggers that will stop you from breaking them off you want them just tight enough to work so when they hang up or you don't stop them soon enough you don't break off.

[fishy1]

great reports only because forum members are hopefully reading these and get a grip on whats going on out there on lake champlain. hopefully some of right people are reading this to with some clout. i think forum members can make a difference here on the forum.

[keithm87]

Paul, I had been playing with the drag on them trying to dial that in since I also am running 2 cannons with auto stop, but my clutches in the big jons are not very responsive, they are pretty all or nothing.

[C-Hawk]

Thank God for all the terns and seagulls, else the lake would be covered with floaters. I wonder if cormorants eat the sinkers?

[Captain Paul]

Paul, I had been playing with the drag on them trying to dial that in since I also am running 2 cannons with auto stop, but my clutches in the big jons are not very responsive, they are pretty all or nothing.

You may need to replace the drag washers or they may not be on right but you should be able to set them so if they hang up you don't break the cable if you cant then there is something wrong in the drag system. By the way they are very touchy to get set right