Decided to try for Lakers today for something different. Hit Malletts Bay launch around 5:30 and managed to beat the pleasure boats out. The Bass guys were already out there so the place was to myself. Well...almost, got hit up by the Champlain Basin guy telling me to be sure to drain my motor and pull the boat plug (New law that’s not in the books) every time I come off the water to prevent the spread of Zebra Mussels and avasive plants. I always do my best to prevent both but got a little annoyed with him busting my balls while millions of gallons of raw sewage gets dumped into the lake every year and no one bats an eye, but I digress.
Set up west/north west of stave in 70-90 feet of water and tried dragging the bottom. I hate dragging my downrigger ball in fear of losing it so I run a Walleye rig instead. I run my cannon ball about 10 feet above the bottom and run 30’ of line off the release with the Walleye rig attached.
The water temp was 42 degrees and I could see “sharks” on the screen on the bottom but they wanted nothing I had.
Around 8:30 I decided to try the inside of the bike path in Malletts Bay. Once I went through the cut I realize the water temperature was 64° in the shallow areas. Since this was too warm for lake trout I went out into the bay and fished in 80 feet of water. I set up the same rig I was using earlier and found the water temperature to be around 52 at the bottom. As I was trolling I noticed a few fish surfacing and chasing minnows. I figured they must be salmon so I grabbed a crazy Ivan sausage gravy milkshake and slid it down as a cheater. Five minutes later I hooked up a nice 20 inch 3 pound salmon. I stayed in this area for another 30 minutes but the winds picked up. The winds were coming out of the East so I figured I would fish on the west side of the Fill to stay out of it. I trolled on that side for another hour but the water temperature was 64. I went out to the drop off and fished around 25-30 feet and found the temp I was looking for but the winds also found me. North around 15 with 2-3 footers. Battled with that until noon and I had had enough. Fished 6 hours with one release and one fish. Beautiful day but not the day I was looking for.
Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
- Del Gue
- Posts: 244
- Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:47 am
- Species: Salmon, Pike, Lake Trout
- Location: Milton, VT
Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
Last edited by Del Gue on Mon Jun 11, 2018 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will go buy a boat.
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
good effort
i have a buddy that does a similar rig for bottom dragging. he stays 20 feet off the bottom and attaches 4-5 colors of leadcore to his rigger.
i have a buddy that does a similar rig for bottom dragging. he stays 20 feet off the bottom and attaches 4-5 colors of leadcore to his rigger.
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
@Del,
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will go buy a boat."
Every time I read one of your posts this gives me a chuckle.
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will go buy a boat."
Every time I read one of your posts this gives me a chuckle.
Tom
"Tyee, Too"
18' Lund
"Tyee, Too"
18' Lund
- Del Gue
- Posts: 244
- Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:47 am
- Species: Salmon, Pike, Lake Trout
- Location: Milton, VT
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
tmcaul wrote:@Del,
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will go buy a boat."
Every time I read one of your posts this gives me a chuckle.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will go buy a boat.
- Del Gue
- Posts: 244
- Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 7:47 am
- Species: Salmon, Pike, Lake Trout
- Location: Milton, VT
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
It works great. I’ve had a lot of success using it in the spring in the flats off of the mouth of the Winooski River. I even run them off of planer boards with enough line out to make sure they reach bottom. This way I don’t have to worry about adjusting for deeper or shallower water. It also protects me from those sunken trees that will grab your gear.Butcher wrote:good effort
i have a buddy that does a similar rig for bottom dragging. he stays 20 feet off the bottom and attaches 4-5 colors of leadcore to his rigger.
One adjustment that I make over the picture is I will run the top line longer than the bottom one. They will never tangle if you do this.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will go buy a boat.
- Crayfish
- Posts: 558
- Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 11:47 am
- Species: All of them
- Location: Jericho, Vermont
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
Great idea for dragging bottom w/o risking your downrigger ball. We fished the shallows in Mallett's Bay Sunday afternoon and it was wild out there! Not what they had forecasted at all. We had a ball, though, catching lots of pike and few smallies.
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
We were out in the broad lake north of burlington. I guess the waves must have been way different as it was nice out there till around 2pm when the waves started. Slow day though, only 7 lakers compared to 16 the day before.
- Crayfish
- Posts: 558
- Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2015 11:47 am
- Species: All of them
- Location: Jericho, Vermont
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
We didn't get on the water until around 4pm and white caps were rolling pretty good on the north side of Sandbar. Mallett's Bay wasn't any better when you got away from shore. Made for interesting moments when fighting the wind and fish!
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- Posts: 263
- Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:40 pm
- Species: Salmon/Lakers
Re: Stave Island and outer Malletts Bay
I've run this 3 way swivel system , I always run a lighter line on my sinker to swivel!
"OFF SEASON"