I fished Lake Champlain on Monday from 7am until 4:30. The weather was picture perfect as long as you don’t mind the ice melting! There was little to no wind and it was sunny. I ended up fishing the afternoon in just a long sleeve shirt. Most of the other guys on the ice with me took their fishing suits off it was so nice!
The fishing was quick at times and slow at others. The bite at first light was apparently better than any other time throughout the day and wouldn’t you know it, I missed it! The fish didn’t move far all the day. We spent most of our time spread out over small area but at times we reached out when the fish were not active looking for where they went. At these times, I would walk around with my Aqua Vu Micro underwater camera and search. I found that the fish didn’t go anywhere… They were either suspended just below the ice or sitting right close to the bottom and not moving.
I wouldn’t say we struggled to catch fish but it certainly was not the best day on Lake Champlain. I was able to pull some nice crappie that were pretty spaced out throughout the day but little chips were frequent in most holes and everywhere on the camera. It seemed like they were more lethargic than normal whenever I would see a decent sized fish.
The best color today was anything heavily colored in green. I tried both horizontal and vertical with similar success but stuck it out with the vertical. I find myself getting better hook ups when I am fishing fast. I switched out many times throughout the day from maggots to plastics and both worked. I had good luck using the Mini Draggi by Maki Plastics in white or two spikes!
D & B Ice Adventures 