PLATTSBURG, NY — Bryan Schmitt’s favorite place to bass fish is Lake Champlain. And why wouldn’t it be? In three B.A.S.S. tournaments here, he’s won twice and finished 26th in the other one. The last time the Elite Series came here, July 8-11, 2021, Schmitt won with a four-day total of 78 pounds, 5 ounces.
Massive Lake Champlain, which covers 490 square miles, is about three feet higher than usual due to heavy rains and flooding this summer. So, how’s Schmitt feeling now, after three days of practice, before the four-day Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Elite begins Thursday?
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Schmitt said Wednesday evening. “I think the largemouth will play a little more than normal. Overall, the lake is fishing good. That water being up is only helping.
“It changes a lot, in terms of tactics and stuff for largemouth. There will be a lot of frogging and flipping coming into play. And the smallmouth are a little different too, a little shallower than they’ve been.”
As far as the high water helping, that depends on who you talk to. Brandon Cobb is leading the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings by a mere one point over second-place Kyle Welcher going into this next-to-last tournament of the season. Cobb usually enjoys competing at Champlain because of the mix of largemouth and smallmouth bass opportunities.
“I had an absolutely horrible practice,” said Cobb, noting that the high water has the largemouth bass scattered. “I think that’s what’s hurting me here. I usually find largemouth pretty easily. And with the high water, instead of being in 5 to 6 feet, now they’re in 8 to 10. They don’t seem to be as congregated as they usually are.”
Cobb teams with longtime friend and fellow competitor Shane LeHew to put together a game plan after they try different areas and methods during practice. Cobb said he won’t be adding much solid information to the game plan this week.
“I think you’ll see some big largemouth, but I think this tournament will be dominated by smallmouth,” Cobb said. “If I concentrated on largemouth, I’d either be in the top 10 or 93rd. The largemouth are just not worth the risk.”
Brandon Palaniuk won the Elite Series tournament here in 2020 with a four-day total of 80-1. That’s a pretty consistent winning weight at Champlain, somewhere just north or just south of 20 pounds per day.
“I feel like the lake is different than every other time we’ve been here, but I think the weights will be very similar,” Palaniuk said. “I think it will take 17 1/2 at day to make the top 50 (Day 2 cut) and 20 a day to win.
“It’s pretty easy to catch 15 pounds, but it’s real hard to catch 20.”
When asked about the largemouth bass factor this week, Palaniuk said, “I don’t know because I haven’t spent a lot of time looking for them. With more water, that tends to spread them out.”
