PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Since he started coming to Lake Champlain as an Elite Series angler, Seth Feider has never caught two 5-pound largemouth in the same day.
That changed on Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain as the New Market, Minn., pro landed a 6-pounder and another largemouth over 5 ½ pounds to anchor a 23-pound, 11-ounce limit of green fish that lifted him to the top of the leaderboard on Thursday.
“Those really big 5’s are super rare,” he said. “I’ve never caught two in the same day, but I did today, and they go a long way when everyone is catching 3- and 4-pound fish. I don’t know how the rest of the week will play out, but I had a really fun day.
“There’s no place I’d rather win one than on Champlain.”
On a day where 100 limits of bass were caught, 21 of which were over 20 pounds, Feider holds a 1-pound advantage over second-place Greg DiPalma and a 2-pound advantage over third-place Kyle Patrick.
It is the 2022 Angler of the Year’s biggest bag ever at Lake Champlain, adding to an already impressive track record at the famed fishery in eastern New York. He has two second-place finishes in 2017 and 2020 as well as a fourth in 2021. Last year, however, Feider missed the Day-3 cut and finished a disappointing 67th.
“Last year hurt,” he said. “I have a really good track record on this lake. It fishes a lot like home, just with bigger fish. I love fishing here.”
Feider opened the morning targeting the pelagic smallmouth Lake Champlain has become known for in the last several years with his forward-facing sonar. That turned out to be a particularly frustrating venture for the veteran angler.
“They were giving me problems, so I said to hell with them, and I went bass fishing,” Feider said. “I was just sucking at ‘Scoping. I was missing my casts, landing short, not getting bit and I lost one. I had a spot (close by) that is decent for largemouth, so I’ll go catch a few of them and then come back and Scope and it won’t bother me as much when they won’t eat my minnow.”
It was a day-altering decision as Feider landed his first lunker largemouth within his first couple of casts in the area. After landing another 4-pounder, Feider fully committed to the largemouth bite and fished seven or eight different areas, three of which produced his bag. A jig and a Texas rig were his most productive baits, while his biggest bass ate a frog.
Unlike in years past, Feider has found the largemouth are more spread out than they usually are. He got bites around wood, docks, rock and grass throughout the day. Most of the 25 bass Feider landed were between 2 and 3 pounds on Day 1.
“Normally you can go to a bay and camp out. This year, there are some bays I go into to catch one bass I shook off. It’s not an endless supply,” Feider said. “It’s probably because of the high water. When they were grouped up, they were more offshore in the submergent vegetation. The high water has them doing a little bit of everything.”
The Elite pros enjoyed sun and relatively calm conditions for most of Day 1, but change is on the way as the remnants of Hurricane Debby are forecast to move through the area starting on Friday, with stormy conditions continuing through Saturday morning.
That will make life much more difficult on Feider as far as navigating the fishery.
“If it gets windy, it will be really hard for me to catch them. A lot of my stuff is protected but getting from (here to there) will be a problem,” he said.
DiPalma, meanwhile, landed his entire 22-11 limit of smallmouth in the first two hours of the day off two shallow boulders in 12 feet of water. The Millville, N.J., pro believes the crawfish population is high in the area and has seen several smallmouth spit up crawfish as he was fighting them.
He primarily used a drop shot and a jighead minnow to land his limit.
“There are definitely fish in the area. It is a niche little area, and I have it to myself,” DiPalma said. “Tomorrow, the wind is going to change and the next day it is going to change again. These are smallmouth, and they can swim away.”
Once he filled out his limit, DiPalma made a long run south to the Ticonderoga region of Lake Champlain to try and catch a 6-pound largemouth. While he caught plenty of bass, he did not land the giant bass he was looking for.
Patrick landed a 21-11 mixed bag on Day 1 to land in third place. He anchored his bag with a 6-2 largemouth, which was the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day. The rookie from Cooperstown, N.Y., spent the day targeting smallmouth, landing three on the day.
But as he was moving through a section of grass in 15 to 20 feet of water, he received a surprising largemouth bite that clued him into a different bite.
“I committed to smallmouth, and I was throwing a Berkley Flat Worm and I got a largemouth bite. So, I pulled some rods out of the box and caught that 6-2 and a 4-2,” Patrick said. “It was fortunate that I ran into some largemouth.
“They were congregated in one section. It’s not like you can do that anywhere on the lake. I would have had 18 pounds if I had just smallmouth.”
A jig, a drop shot and a Damiki rig were Patrick’s three best baits on Day 1.
Alabama’s Justin Hamner, winner of 2024 the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors, leads the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 669 points. Tennessee’s Jacob Foutz is second with 654 points, followed by Illinois rookie Trey McKinney in third with 652 points. Missouri’s Cody Huff is fourth with 650 points and Chris Johnston of Canada is fifth with 639.
McKinney also leads the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings with 652 points, followed by Tennessee’s John Garrett in second with 638 points and Alabama’s Wesley Gore in third with 628.
The full field will launch from the Plattsburgh City Dock beginning at 7 a.m. ET Friday and return for weigh-in at 3 p.m. The field will be cut to the Top 50 anglers after the Day 2 weigh-in before the Top 10 anglers take center stage on Championship Sunday.
Coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain will air on FS1 on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Bassmaster LIVE will be streaming on Bassmaster.com each day.
The Adirondack Coast and City of Plattsburgh are hosting the tournament.
