Lake Champlain United - Forums

Hello. I moved to Vermont last fall (what a great state!) and am still figuring out the fishing here. Does anyone have a recommendation for where I can catch perch or crappie? I've been having a great time catching and releasing bass, but I'm looking for some fish to put in the freezer.

I live in Burlington - I can travel a bit for the right opportunity but of course less driving is preferable. I have a canoe I fish from so I'm not stuck completely on shore. I tried Champlain right by/in the mouth of the Winooski but came up empty.

Thanks for the advice!

Crappie I don't target, but for perch they are out a little deeper now. I haven't caught one from shore in about a month where I am. Perch like mucky bottoms, weeds, and small minnows around. Hatching insects, too. They are a schooling fish so usually if you catch one you should stay in that spot for a while.
Some spots close-ish to you could be Keeler's Bay, south side of the Sandbar, around Marble Island, or the east side of Outer Mallet's Bay (Thayer Beach area).

I use a double drop-shot rig like the picture below. In the top position, put a small jig such as the Swedish Pimple instead of a hook. On the bottom, a small hook with a piece of nightcrawler.

Get out in that canoe and let the rig drop to the bottom. Then just drift or paddle very slowly away from shore, letting out line as needed to keep the rig on bottom. Very gently lift up the rod to move it along with the boat. Keep on drifting and you WILL catch a perch. Once you catch one, anchor up and see who else is hanging around. I do NOT try to put any "action" on it besides the drift and find this works much better!

In Vermont, you can legally use two rods with two hooks each, so you can double up, or try trolling or casting something like an inline spinner too if you are bored watching jigs..

For crappie, I don't hear much about them myself. Maybe down South. Look at fishy1's posts, he has some crappie reports I think. Good luck!

P.S. here is the kind of rig you want, imo. Look up a lesson on how to tie it because you need to get the knots right to have the hooks facing up.

Find the largemouth and probably the crappie are near by.
They're in the weeds. Small minnows or chartreuse plastics work well.
Few weeks back we were getting crappie and gills in carry bay.
10-12' fow.

Thanks for the advice! I'm headed out of town this weekend but looking forward to following your recommendations once I'm back.

Good stuff Doc. Love the pic... That rig will work if many small fish I bet.... I wonder about walleye with night crawlers with that baby....

Will have to try for walleye this year, Matt!
Just wanted to chime in to update and say we caught lots of BIG PERCH last week slowly trolling a #5 Shad Rap in natural colors (just long-lining, no gear). We were over 15-30 FOW. Usually I cook perch whole and eat around the bones but I these were about 1lb. each and was able to filet them nicely. I imagine you could long-line any small-medium crankbait and catch perch now.

We've caught a lot of yellows and crappie around Savage Island. Prefer fat bass, but you catch what bites.