Winchester Lake w/ Larry & Josh

Larry gave us a call on friday night asking if we wanted to go check out Winchester in the morning and having never fished it before we said yea why not.. We were on the water by 6:30am.  Having read reports from fellow members and talking to a few people it seems like one of those places that can be very very slow so our expectations weren't very high. We tossed spinner baits, bass jigs, chatter baits, rubber worms, double paddle tail grubs, osmo's, buzz baits and the buzz baits were the only one to not catch a fish.

The weather was perfect, completely overcast with water temps of 75..We had pretty solid action most of the day around the stumps fishing water from 6 to 11 feet deep. Larry started off with the hot hand having landed 4 fish before me or josh had one. Larry also got one small pike on the bass jig right at the side of the boat. Josh started getting slammed when he put the rubber worm on and then i finally started getting some hits all on the chartreuse spinner bait. 

Josh hooked into something very large on the osmo and after a quick fight and screaming drag the fish shook the hook. Was most likely a solid northern. Shit happens but by the end of the day we caught a combined 18 largemouth with a handful around 2 - 2.5 pounds. Nothing huge but all fun, 1 Northern, 4 slim darts, a giant rock bass, and one yellow perch. The dark clouds and thunder chased us off the water around 1:30pm.

Its a very cool lake and very different from anywhere ive ever fished. Can also be extremely dangerous with most the stumps being right there sub surface.. Larry did a great job of navigating us around safely but i could easily see someone going there for the first time and ripping your motor right off your boat so anyone going there.. take it slow.  Was hoping for some more action from the pike. But it is mid summer and i dont know how many pike are even in there.

Delayed Champlain Report 07/15-07/16

Got an invite from fellow CTF member Obass to take a 2 day trip to what most call the 6th Great Lake. Lake Champlain is nothing short of massive and by far the biggest body of fresh water i've ever had the opportunity to fish.  It is home to over 80 species of fish and its conditions change constantly.  We left at 4am Saturday morning for Ticonderoga and were on the water by 9am.  The action began immediately with white chatter baits and spinner baits.  We were tossing through some of the heaviest weeds i had ever fished but hey the fish were there so you do what you have to do.  My first fish of the trip   was a northern which i was pretty happy about seeing how it was my first pike anywhere other than CT. At the time i didnt know that would be 1 of 12 that i would catch on the trip.

Mike's DRUM

We caught 44 fish on day one with most of those being LMB with a handful of them in the 4lb range. Our best quality bass were caught on buzz baits which is probably the greatest most fun bass lure to fish. When that was working its hard to throw anything else. The hits are violent and even mid summer the pike somehow were all about crushing them even breaking us off on some hits that sent them 2 feet out of the water.  Was like nothing i had ever seen locally.  Highlight of day one was Mike getting a Drum. What a fight and was a fish that i had never seen before. So that was awesome.   That night we got back to our hotel and there was zero power which was a huge bummer but the disappointment didn't last..

Day 2 was the day that ill never forget, our arms were sore by noon but we fished till 8pm. Combined we caught 111 fish with our best largemouth coming on spinner baits and chatter baits. We caught probably 30 pickerel  another 15 pike and then just a ton of bass with almost all of them in the keeper range. Lake Champlain's water clarity literally is different at ever spot we fished. From muddy to gray to some what clear but the bait that produced the most fish even in the darkest water was the white chatter bait with gold blades and a fluke trailer. We had probably 6 or 7 double hook ups and times where you caught fish on 5 out of 6 cast.

This was a trip that i wont soon forget and i just wanna thank Mike for taking me and once i have a bigger boat i will be making trips up there monthly. =)  

senko