PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Anglers will visit Lake Champlain for the final Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier presented by Lowrance and Elite Series rookie Tim Dube expects anglers to find plenty of bass on the historic fishery this go-round.
“This is a great time to be up at Champlain,” the New Hampshire pro said. “You’ll have favorable weather patterns and shouldn’t have to deal with too much wind. The lake is full of fish. You are going to see a lot of fish catches and a lot of limits weighed in. It won’t be a struggle to catch them; it will be a struggle to catch the right five.”
Tournament days are scheduled for July 24-26 with daily takeoffs and weigh-ins to take place at the Plattsburgh City Marina. This is the last chance for anglers to qualify for the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance at Grand Lake.
Splitting the border of New York and Vermont, Lake Champlain has been a gem of the bass fishing world for many years and a favorite stop amongst any angler fishing with B.A.S.S. Most recently, Kyoya Fujita won an Elite Series event with a four-day total of smallmouth weighing 86 pounds, 12 ounces.
This year, Dube said the bass are progressing through the spawn quicker than usual, which means the bass should be fat and healthy by the time anglers arrive for the tournament.
While a healthy largemouth population still exists in Champlain, smallmouth get much of the attention on the lake these days. Dube said there are plenty of 4-pound brownies that either chase alewives out in open water or hunker down to ambush perch in the shallows.
“There are more 4-pound smallmouth in that lake than 4-pound largemouth,” Dube said. “Numbers wise, the smallmouth guys are going to figure out the pelagic smallmouth. The Inland Sea has the largest population. But there will be a lot of people over there, so you could see a lot of bass being split up.”
Forward-facing sonar and a jighead minnow will be key to catching the roaming smallmouth while a more traditional approach like a drop shot or Carolina rig will be key for the perch eaters. The “old school Champlain” also exists still.
“You’ve got humps, individual rocks out on deep flats and you have grasslines,” Dube said. “Grasslines haven’t played in a couple years, but they might this year. But it is so easy to put the trolling motor down with forward-facing and see them versus dragging a Carolina rig down a grassline or over a rockpile.
“Big fish live shallow on that lake.”
The X factor in this event, according to Dube, will be the anglers who decide to spend some time attempting to catch largemouth. The lake features several different types of grass, including milfoil, which will attract most of the largemouth population.
Although it hasn’t played much in the last two Elite Series events, the Ticonderoga area on the south end of the lake could set up well in this tournament.
“That has potential as long as the wind doesn’t blow,” Dube said. “Someone could find a group of largemouth that are healthy, fat and potentially the winning kind of fish. The water is shallower and dirtier down there.”
Missisquoi Bay, meanwhile, tends to be the best largemouth area on the lake. Dube said the best way for an angler to separate themselves in what will likely be a tight leaderboard is to catch several 4-pound smallmouth and then land a 5-pound largemouth.
The event is hosted by The Adirondack Coast.
