Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Lake Champlain fishing report.
We’re sliding into that deep-winter pattern now. Overnight temps have been well below freezing, daytime struggling around the freezing mark with light north–northwest breeze and a mix of clouds and weak sun. Local weather out of Burlington is calling for highs just above 30, lows in the teens, and barometer steady to slightly rising. That stable pressure has the bite decent but not wide open.
No true ocean tides here on Champlain, but water levels are low and fairly steady, more influenced by river inflow and north wind stacking water than anything lunar. That means predictable structure fishing: points, drops, and wintering basins are the ticket.
Sunrise is right around 7:30 a.m., sunset a touch after 4:15 p.m. The best window the last couple days has been the gray light on both ends – first hour after sunrise and last hour before dark, with a little midday flurry when the sun pops out.
Fish activity:
Smallmouth are pulled off the banks, holding 25–45 feet on rock humps, old river channels, and steep points. Folks out of Burlington and Shelburne have been picking at them with handful days of 8–15 fish, mostly 2–3 pounds, with an occasional 4. Largemouth are tougher, buried in the deepest remaining green weeds or wood in 15–25. Northern pike and a few bonus lake trout are coming from the shallower bays and breaks where smelt and perch are stacking.
Recent catch talk from local marinas and bait shops around Burlington, Colchester, and Port Kent has been pretty consistent:
– Mixed bags of smallmouth and occasional largemouth.
– Pike in the 24–32 inch class out of the weedier bays.
– Lake trout showing for guys dragging deep lines off the main lake drops.
Best lures and baits right now:
For smallmouth:
– Tight‑wobble suspending jerkbaits in natural smelt colors, worked slow with long pauses.
– 3–4" tubes and goby-style plastics on 1/4–3/8 oz heads dragged painfully slow on rock.
– Drop‑shot with small minnow or shad-style plastics for fish pinned to bottom.
For largemouth:
– Compact football jigs with a chunk trailer in green pumpkin/black.
– Subtle swimbaits slow‑rolled along remaining weed edges.
For pike:
– Silver or firetiger spoons and white spinnerbaits slow‑rolled along weed lines.
– Under a bobber, big shiners or dead bait where legal.
For lake trout:
– Heavy spoons and 3–5" white swimbaits on 3/4–1 oz heads, bounced on 60+ foot breaks.
Live bait: medium to large shiners for bass and pike, smelt if you can get them for trout. With the water this cold, scent and subtlety matter – light fluorocarbon, slow presentations, and long pauses.
A couple local hot spots to consider:
– Burlington Bay to Juniper Island: Classic winter smallmouth zone. Focus on the deeper rock piles, the ferry channel edges, and those sneaky 30–40 foot humps. Jerkbait to find them, tube or drop‑shot to clean up.
– Inland Sea / Sand Bar area: On the Vermont side near the Sand Bar causeway, look for deeper edges off the old river channel and remaining weeds. Good mix of pike and largemouth, with bonus smallmouth off the deeper breaks.
Honorable mention: Converse Bay and Shelburne Bay on the Vermont shore for deeper smallmouth and the occasional laker sliding up.
That’s your Lake Champlain rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
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