Lake Champlain United - Forums

Well the mutiny has been adverted. The crew (wife and 10 year old son) aboard Fishpole Thinking are finally happy. We caught our first lake trout ever and 9 more on Saturday for a total of 10. The crew is no longer complaining that trolling is boring and wanting to go back to fishing bass. They want to fish trout and salmon more.

A big thanks to Crayfish for letting us know where to go to catch our first fish and how to do it. Thanks Crayfish. My son kept calling on the radio, "Is there a Crayfish out there."

We fished the mouth of the Winooski from the Apple Tree Bay Point to Sunset Island and back. As soon as we put the first planner board out, it got hit before, I could put the second one out. I gave the poll to our son and he reeled in the first lake trout ever on Fishpole Thinking (24" Laketrout) He was so excited.
We reset that one and put in the other planner board. Then, the first planner board got hit again. I gave my wife the pole and took over driving. She reeled on a 30" laker. The purple deep diving Rapala was on fire. Lea just had her covid vaccine shot the afternoon before and her arm was sore at the end. She said she would love to just drive the boat. OK we said. Lea did a great job driving the boat keeping us in the right depth and speed.
Stickbaits were working well. Only got 1 release on a spoon. We were runnig stick baits on planners and spoons on downriggers 5 feet down. After a while, we switched to stickbaits on the downriggers and then the downriggers started firing too. Here are the stickbaits that worked best for us.
Lloyd reeled in 4 more fish. I reeled in 4 too. We kept 2 fish for dinner and released the rest. Lots of learning on catching and releasing.

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to go again now.

Good work out there guys, I knew you would get into them sooner or later. It's on now. You've got a taste of the whole cold water thing. That fish just about comes up to his chest, haha.

great report and pics glad to see you got into them keep on chasing lots of fun

The smiles make the report!! Great story, really appreciate the sharing. Sounds like a memorable day on the lake that also hooked a few fisherman in the trolling program. Once I started doing it in the 90’s it hooked me hard and I have never looked back...

Congrats on the hog lakers. A 30” fish is a beast...

Awesome! Glad you found them. Thanks for looking for me out there, but I was stuck on shore all weekend between working around the house and 2 birthday parties.

Great report, I knew once you got into them they would be hooked on trolling. Nice fish! and don't forget there is still plenty of time for bass fishing to.

#1) I appreciate your honest approach and eagerness to learn, because let's face it, we all could never stop learning and improving our skills chasing these "Cold H2o" Fish!

#2) Anytime you see a Kid smiling, holding up a Fish... Well, that's what it's all about.

#3) Thanks for the Great Post! It was fun to read and also informative.


Best,
Ej (TruViking)

Very nice...you just made the headlines over at Lake Champlain United's FaceBook page! https://www.facebook.com/FishingLakeChamplain

WOW, that's a monster fish for a 10 year old boy. Catching 10 lakers was surely a thrill for everyone. Thanks for sharing your happy experience.

great job, that's a lot of lakers for your first time ever boating one of them ! Really, its a good haul of fish any day !