New to the Area and Looking for Info on Lake Champlain . . .

[NMG]

Hi everyone,

I recently moved out to Ottawa from British Columbia and I really need to get my Lake Trout fix in this year so I'm looking to fish Lake Champlain. I must say that I look forward to visiting Vermont and Champlain as it looks simply beautiful. I think it will actually remind me of home a bit

Anyway, would any of you be willing to point me in the general direction of some areas that I could launch from to target Lakers in say May or June? I would be coming down from Ottawa so I suspect the north end of the lake in where I would focus. My problem, as it is with any huge lake, is just getting an idea of whether the Lakers tend to hang out in certain areas, if they are present in the entire lake, etc. I am quite familiar with Lake Trout fishing so I don't think I'll have an issue catching fish once I get to likely spots, but I'm just looking for some general pointers on where to start. I'm NOT looking for your secret spots or anything like that.

I will have downriggers on my boat although I'm not sure if they will be needed at that time of year. Back home in BC the fish typically wouldn't head down until well into June, but again, I need to figure all of that stuff out for out here.

I will definitely search the board for info, but if any of you are willing to help me out with some general advice and suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. I'm also very interested in fishing for the salmon in Champlain. I've never targeted that species, but I do have experience with big Rainbows back home. I suspect it's similar.

Anyway, thanks a bunch and I really look forward to getting on the water!

[Del Gue]

Welcome! You are off to a good start. The members of this forum will be MORE than happy to tell you where to catch Lakers as most here fish for Salmon. Members here are also very forthcoming with what they are catching, where they are catching and what they are using. I think everyone might have a "secret spot" but anyone who has fished the main lake knows, what works today may not work tomorrow.
I fish the Inland Sea a lot for Salmon and have only caught one Laker and that was through the ice. I have caught Lakers on the outside of Malletts Bay, Converse Bay and Whallons Bay. I'm sure others in here will have better intel.
Look under the "Fishing reports" forum for what's being caught.
Good luck and welcome!
Del

[fishingmachine]

there are no lakers or salmon left in lake champlain,them damn Canadians came down here and got them all!!!
NO,NO just kidding,,,the best way for you to get lakers is to find them and the best way to find them is to keep your eye on this forum a couple weeks before you plan on getting here and the info will be on here,,,good luck and sincerely,,,,welcome..........fishingmachine

[4cs]

Welcome NMG

With your VT fishing license it will allow you to fish both the VT and NY waters and gives you many places to fish lakers, just to name a few Juniper island, Stave Island, Schuyler Reef, Willsboro, Plattsburg Bay all in the northen section. The time frame when you are coming down can be tricking as lakers can be on the top or on the bottom so be prepared for both. That time frame also is great form splitting you time between lake trout and salmon say like first thing in the morning fish salmon then after 3 to 4hrs switch over to lakers. In most instances you do not have to travel far for one species or the other.

Pat

[Ludo]

1. Check the reports
2. Save the picture of the boat you saw as an avatar.
3. Bring the picture in your boat
4. Look for these boats on the water and follow them !!

Welcome in the familly!

For fishing spot, the first thing I have done is to watch the Trakmaps of the lake (without buying it in a store):

http://www.trakmaps.com/PrintedMapDetails.aspx?PM=2d03e723-be07-472d-886d-6dfce26492f1
http://www.trakmaps.com/PrintedMapDetails.aspx?PM=94e38b18-b4d6-41dd-b62b-43caac0eb14c

It shows detail like you can see in this page:
http://heroswelcome.com/Lake-Champlain-Chart-Book-by-Trac.html

There are fish in color (1 color per specie) and where they are.

The maps are not 100% accurate, but first time I fished the lake, a lot of boat where next to these places, that's mean that the spot should be good

[NMG]

Awesome, thanks so much for the replies everyone! I had to sell my boat when we moved out here last year and unfortunately I didn't get much fishing in, so I'm more than ready to hit the water again. I pick up our new boat in a couple of weeks here and as soon as I get everything broken in I'll be planning some trips, can't wait