Lake Champlain United - Forums

The day started with first time guest Mike Milne (Drachma) driving from Waterbury to meet me at the Burlington Coast Guard station ramp at 8:30 am. Some of you might remember Mike winning the Slide Bite Diver complete set-up at the first taping workshop in January. Mike gave me a call and asked for a lesson yesterday how to use it. I asked for his help with my Lite Bite Slide / TD Fish Hawk demo filming today. It was a fair trade! Mike brought bagels and cream cheese and a big quart of Diet Coke. He knows my weakness's.

We had iffy South winds around 13 mph and I wasn't sure if we were going to make that 10 mile crossing to where we wanted to fish so we went for it anyway. After traveling 1-2 miles it appeared the waves were getting worse as we traveled West. Turned around and heading back to the coast guard station ramp. Second week in a row snake bit by rough water on the main lake. Decided to regroup and head down to Converse for calmer water.

Arrived at Converse ramp at 9:30 am. One trailer there from the state of vermont fish and game. We unloaded and headed over to Whalon to get out of the south wind as it was 1.5 to 2.0 footers in the main channel. We found some placid water to demo the Slide Diver and the TD Fish Hawk for 30 minutes after setting two riggers and another diver first. With the new auto pilot doing the work Mike did some steady filming of my demo's. We saw (Supercab) come out to anchor for perch off Gull rock in Whalons. (He ended up with a mess of perch today!) Slide Diver and TD Fishhawk video thread found under the Champlain category.

As the wind calmed down to 1 foot or less by 11:00 am with no bites (tons of bait and fish on the screen today) we pulled them and blasted up to the Bouquet river to investigate a rumor from yesterday. Worked it hard and marked lots of bait and gamefish the next 2 hours. One rip on the dipsy and one yellow perch was all we could muster with lots of set-up / lure changes. We trolled back to Cannon point and quit at 3:00 pm. Fuel burn 3.7 gallons of gas today, and super weather and company with first time guest Mike. Mike is a veteran (guides in Alaska) and was wonderful to share strategies and past stories with! Thanks Mike for a fantastic day and you were awesome company on a superb weather day in the comfortable part of the lake where it's narrow and safe from big winds.


Short video in front of the Bouquet red can #50:

Digitroll (Ron) wrote:<null>

I can't imagine you spending that much time with no salmon... Saving him for the shootout? Thanks for the detailed post.

Reelax wrote:

Digitroll (Ron) wrote:<null>

I can't imagine you spending that much time with no salmon... Saving him got the shootout? Thanks for the detailed post.

I hear you Matt! I have always reported the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Blame it on September fishing! The glass is half full though as what a day to be on the water and it was a blast playing with the new toys and filming today. We are just putting some of that luck in the bank and we will be making a withdrawal in the near future.

Great report Ron! Watched the videos...thanks so much! Great stuff! Busy getting the house ready for winter......might just have to try the salmon home out as they Flashpoint is getting ready for storage! Let you know how we do!

I was sure hoping to see a rod "pop" on camera!
Thanks for the post Ron.

Ron,

Thanks for a great day on the water! No Salmon, but, lots of fellowship. I appreciated the lessons for a kinda newbie to Landlock fishing. Willing to go again anytime.

Michael

Glad someone is fishing!

The Admiral is slamming Yellow Perch I hear!

Salmoneye wrote:Glad someone is fishing!

The Admiral is slamming Yellow Perch I hear!

Yes he is Paul. He had $60 worth at the end of the day he told me.

I was hoping to see the yellow boat yesterday. It was my first trip to Converse for 2011. Nice that the parking lot has been repaired and modified with drainage and fill on the back side.

Ron,

Glad to see you got out and were able to play with the new toys. Not to worry the fish will begin cooperating soon. Excellant report.

DOn

Awesome. I've been enjoying your reports and experiments. Checked out your slide diver vid. Nice! If only I was set up like that.... It was nice to see the slide diver depth info. How did you apply your data for strategy?

plantstone wrote:Awesome. I've been enjoying your reports and experiments. Checked out your slide diver vid. Nice! If only I was set up like that.... It was nice to see the slide diver depth info. How did you apply your data for strategy?

Thanks for your kind words. Anytime I can help another fisherman it makes me happy. I know what it was like to struggle fishing landlocks in the decade of the 80's and only a handful of fisherman were in the know and nothing was shared. We have come a long way with social networking on line and on the water sharing with others in the last 4 years. Thanks to Jim Martino and Crazy Ivan!

Just knowing where that max. depth is with 130 feet on the counter can help you move up or down in the water column with confidence like a downrigger until you hit a sweet spot where the fish bite. Braid is similar to wire up to 220 feet out on the counter. I recommend braid in the super pro 50 lb test brand. I just have a wire rod and a braid rod, but braid is the way to go. By running two slides you can dial in the hit by feet out on the counter.

Hope this helps!

Ron