Lake Champlain United - Forums

i went down by the lake this morning to see how the ice was doing. lots of fisherman on the ice so it must be safe ice. checked the brook and was mostly froze over except for one 20 ft section. not much time to spare today so i got my rod out and decided to make a few casts. i put on a pink shad swimbait which i had success there before. ist ten minutes or so nothing then bang fish on. it took me under the ice and i worked my rod tip very slowly trying to get him out from underneath the ice without cutting my line . after carefully getting him out from underneath the ice i landed him a nice 18 inch brown no pics camera at home since i was just taking a ride checking the ice. released the fish back into the brook. went home cold and shivering since i just had on a light jacket . i was amazed that a trout would still be in the brook being so shallow and mostly ice covered. i am going to hit the ice tommorrow morning and set up for lakers browns and salmon and before i return home i will try the brook again.

has anyone attacked the rivers yet? steelies should be making there way up river.

It will probably be at least a couple of weeks. The river I fish is probably solid ice right now. I bet I'll be icefishing most of March, I have yet to get out fishing at all due to other priorities.

fishfarmer wrote:It will probably be at least a couple of weeks. The river I fish is probably solid ice right now. I bet I'll be icefishing most of March, I have yet to get out fishing at all due to other priorities.

looks like its going to be more than a couple of weeks.

has anyone been able to hit and of the champlain tributaries yet for steelhead. dont know if the cold weather is ever going to let up.

fishy1 wrote:has anyone been able to hit and of the champlain tributaries yet for steelhead. dont know if the cold weather is ever going to let up.

Did something thaw?

Raz wrote:

fishy1 wrote:has anyone been able to hit and of the champlain tributaries yet for steelhead. dont know if the cold weather is ever going to let up.

Did something thaw?

there is one over on this side of the lake that there fishing . i got an email saying he has caught one around 19 inches. where i fish they are still froze over. im getting itchy. its thawing but very slowly.

headed out to a tributary yesterday morning with my nephews son with no luck. the water is very low and still lots of thick ice on the banks. we did have 2 good hits but that was it in 2 hours. anyone else been out yet?

I checked out Lewis Creek for steelhead today for a couple of hours. Water level was good under 3 feet at the gaging station, but still cold and discolored. The ground around felt like it still was frozen. No hits, which is to be expected.

the small champlain tributaries of champlain are starting to produce now a little bit on the ny side. went down to a trib this morning but every hole was filled with at least one fisherman so i went over to champlain bridge and tried the lakers.

I heard that the Winooski One fish lift is operating for the spring and will be lifting steelhead up to the next dam 1.6 miles upstream(gorge 18) which will be considered open trout water this weekend.

fishfarmer wrote:I heard that the Winooski One fish lift is operating for the spring and will be lifting steelhead up to the next dam 1.6 miles upstream(gorge 18) which will be considered open trout water this weekend.

sounds like i will know where vtmatt and some others will be.

fished a champlain tributary today for a couple of hours between casting off shore in the lake. 0 results in the tributary but sight fished some . got to the mouth where it enters the lake and landed a nice steelhead approx 18 or 19 inches nothing huge but a good fight and in the lake to. a freind of mines son landed a nice steelhead earlier in the morning and i heard it was a good one . waiting to hear from them in the meantime im heading down to bullwagga bay now and try for salmon again.

steelhead fishing in the champlain tributaries has been good so far with some nice browns also being taken . 2 31 inch steelhead were landed this week and the salmon at the mouth of tributaries is on fire.

So are there pictures of these 31" steelhead? Just curious That would put them in the 10lb plus range.I have fished steelhead in the tribs for many years and have caught 19 this spring and have also been present when many others were caught and haven't seen a 31" fish yet. My biggest this year went 26" measured with a tape measure. I'd love to see one