Lake Champlain- Northern Open

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I headed back north to Plattsburg, Ny for one of the best Northern Open events all year. Last year I found some awesome fishing in the New York arm of the lake but missed a check because of getting caught up with catching smallmouth. This year I knew I would have to make super long runs and brave the harsh waves if I wanted to win. Well thats exactly what I did.

After the 24 hour drive I wanted to get on the lake and find a back up plan first. I met a great guy that makes crankbaits on the Vermont side of Champlain. He wanted to see how we southern boys fish for smallmouth so we put him on the boat and went fishing. After getting used to catching several Northern Pike that are everywhere on the lake we found some big smallmouth. I wanted to use the smallmouth patternas a back up if the weather got nasty and made the long run to Ti impossiable. I put a pattern together within 2 days I thought was good for a solid 12-15 lb bite but knew it would not be what won the event.

The smallmouth I found were solid keeper fish with a few good 4-5 lb fish in the mix. I was fishing the dropshot with a Jackall Super Pintail in Goby color in 15-25 feet of water. I also found fish on several openwater humps. I used the new Jackall I-Shad in the 4.8 size on a C-Rig to get these bites.

On the first official day of practice my buddy, Will Peet and I hit the highway headed to Ti. Once we got there we started at the ramp finding largemouth in just about every cove in the area. The fish in Ti are everywhere it's a matter of finding the right fish more than finding fish there. I did have to slowdown alot to get the better bites. in the morning I fished two baits, the Jackall I-Shad, rigged weightless and worked over grass and the Lake Fork Live Magic Shad. After the morning bite was done I slowed waaayyyy down and worked a Jackall 6.8 Flick Shake rigged on a weightless hook wacky style. The key was letting the bait fall all the way down into the grass and let it sit. The fish would eat the bait on a slack line so bites were very hard to see. I only lost one fish in the tournament so that shows when they took the bait they wanted it.

On day one I had a great co-angler and we made the run to Ti in an hour and a half. Once there we went ahead and got gas then started fishing(the run was 76 miles oneway). I had a limit in less than an hour and started to upgrade. My co-angler Josh got 2 solid bites and was on his way to number 3 when we just ran out of time(we only had 4 hours to fish). We made the run back making a stop in 2 places trying to get his 3rd fish near the ramp. I ended the day in the middle of the pack but knew I needed more sun for the bite I was on to be productive like it was in practice.

On day 2 I drew a good angler that was in 6th place on the co side. The weather was going to be better but as with most events the reports were wrong! It sprinkled rain all day and winds were just plain nasty. I had my limit and my co-angler had his with some better fish but I just ran out of time. Something told me to head back earlier than on day one and I was glad I did. Once hitting the main area called "the narrows" I hit 6-9 footers coming from the south. I had to ride the waves in a zig-zag pattern. The ride back took almost 4 hours with us taking 3 waves into the boat and having to stop to let the water drain out of the boat before we could go on.

Once we got back my co-angler was in the lead and I ended up 95th. Still not bad for my 2nd time there but not where I should have been. It was a great event and congrats to Dave Wolak for a great win. Special thanks to all of our Sponsors for thier support