Lake Champlain Fishing:

Big And Clean
Is this the best season ever for Champlain trout and salmon?

By Shawn Hayes

I feel compelled to start by mentioning my experiences recently with the alewives on the lake. I haven’t caught any fish this year south of Sloop Island with any smelt in them. Every fish has been full of alewives.

This is in contrast to the word from fishermen up north in the Inland Sea area, who are reporting just the opposite. I don’t know what this means for the lake and our fish yet, but it seems as though the alewives are definitely putting some weight on our trout and salmon in parts of the lake. Only time will tell what the long-term results will be, and in a different month we will explore the negative side of alewives in Champlain, but in the immediate future, fishermen can expect some of the fattest lakers and salmon the lake has ever produced.

With the addition of alewives, the question of changing bait sources and lures comes to mind. Will the lure profile change to more of a fat-profiled spoon than the long slender one which we are so accustomed to? It is a legitimate question to ask as the feed source changes and will require experimentation over the next several seasons. But for now the fish are fat and healthy, and great numbers of big trout and salmon are being caught on traditional lures.

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