6-9-12 – The Lftlures “Live” Baby Shad Does The Job Again

This past Saturday I made the trip down to fish with James Vladyka of Fishounds Outdoors.  James is a knowledgeable fisherman and always has some secret spots tucked under his belt on the southern part of Lake Champlain.   I have had the pleasure of knowing Jamie as a friend and through the VT SPORTSMAN HARDWATER TOURNAMENT SERIES which he co-operates with partner Scott Blair.  I decided this trip would be a good opportunity to continue working with the “Live” Baby Shad made by Lake Fork Trophy Lures.

Our initial experiences with the “Live” Baby Shad were fantastic while fishing them under a bobber for spring time panfish.  This outing would bring a new test.  Now that it is a little later in the summer, the fish have moved from their shallow water spawning grounds out onto deeper structure.  The target areas for the day were submerged pieces of structure in 10-16 feet of water.

We hit the water a little after 7 am and quickly realized that there were multiple bass tournaments taking place. The lake was littered with boats in a hurry to race around to get their bags for the day.  No worries.  We went to our first piece of structure which was located in 10 feet of water.  The graph was showing fish but they seemed reluctant to bite.  Thunder storms had rolled through the area a few hours earlier and stirred everything up, which I’m sure had something to do with the finicky feeding habits of this crappie.

We managed a few fish on this spot vertical jigging off the side of the boat but the action was a little too slow for the Fish Hounds liking.  Our second spot was located a short distance from out first but what a difference in fish activity.  It was now a little later in the morning and the bite was turning on.  We marked the structure with the graph and set out a few marking bobbers to spare us some jigs. . . .   The fish were positioned right off to the sides of the structure in 11 feet of water.  Once we tied the bobbers to mark the perimiter of the structure, it was game on.  The fish were aggressive and the action was fast.  The most productive technique was the “pendulum swing”.  The idea behind this technique is to cast  just past the structure and let it swing through the strike zone, hopefully keeping it away from the structure. “It’s a lot like the Price Is Right” says Jamie. In the “showcase showdown”, you want to get your bid as close as possible to the value without going over.  In this case we were rewarded with slab white crappie.  The hot color of the day was the bluegrass pattern.  This color is a combination of blue and green which worked well giving the bait a bright and dark color to contrast in the stained water. Check out the video on our YouTube Page of a few of the fish caught today.

We ended our trip by shooting a quick video on the baits which can be found on Jamie’s facebook page.  We kept some fish for dinner and made our way off the water.  All in all is was a very productive day for the “Live” Baby Shad.  It caught fish all day long with no hick-ups.  I highly encourage you to try some of these baits. Check out our review on the Lake Fork Plastics.

Here’s a pair of quality Lake Champlain white crappie

5-5-12 – Walleye Season Kick Off

This past Saturday May 5th marked the opening day of walleye Season here in Vermont.  I had the opportunity to fish with Scott Blair of VT Sportsman in his boat with my buddy the bass fishermen.  The plan was to head north to the Missisquoi River which is usually a great early season walleye destination.  The weather man was calling for cloudy skies in the morning and temps in the 50′s, not the case.  After a late start because of over two hours of travel time, we arrived to find the parking lot of the boat launch packed full of cars and trucks with trailers from other fishermen. This spot is no secret and from the stringers we could see when launching the boat the fish were biting.

We launched the boat and managed to find a spot in the mess of boats, there were probably 30-40 boats fishing a quarter mile stretch of river.  The presentation was simple.  A 1/4oz or 3/8oz jig head tipped with a minnow, jigged over the side of the boat.  There was a decent amount of current that day so it took a little strategic maneuvering by Scott to keep the boat in position.   River jigging can be a little tricky at times, the idea is to work the trolling motor so that the boat is slowly moving up river, jigging over the side while the current will work the bait towards the back of the boat.  It is a very difficult technique to master.  It’s important to match the weight of the jig with the amount of current so that you can always stay in touch with your jig bouncing on the bottom.  When the current is strong a 3/8oz jig will help you feel the bottom when is key since the fish are laying on the bottom and most strikes occur when when the jig is falling.  Calmer conditions will allow you to fish smaller jigs as the weight is not necessary in order to feel bottom.   Detecting bites is the hardest part, many times you won’t actually feel a “bite” there will just be weight, it’s either a fish or a tree, for me it was usually a tree.  We like to use an 8-9 foot rod with a fast tip,  6-8 lb line with a 4lb leader connected to the main line by a barrel swivel.

I hate to say it, but we missed the bite, many boats had very respectable stringers that arrived at dawn.  We only managed one fish and that was caught by Scott the walleye magnet!  We did have quite a few bites that we missed due to our lack of experience detecting these bites.  The one fish that was boated was warty. .  This is a common condition in Vermont and the state issues no warning against consuming these fish. This disease is present mainly in adult fish and is most commonly found in their spawning grounds while the fish are in close quarters or at times touching More information can be found on the VT Fish & Wildlife site at “Lymphocystis and Walleye Dermal Sarcoma“. You can see the fish with warts below.

Our good friend Jamie Vladyka of Fish Hounds Outdoors was able to manage a limit of three nice fish.  Most of Jamie’s fish were caught on a Bobby Garland Baby Shad bait that we use for crappies, leave it to Jamie to figure something new out! He’s a great fishermen.

All and all, not the best day in terms of catching but any day on the water with good friends and fishing is a great day in my mind.  We’ll be back after the walleyes this week and will have more to share.  Thanks for reading.

Jamie with a decent opening day walleye in Vermont

Scotts fish- Notice the warts.

A close up

3-19-12 – First Day In The Boat

I got to check out what it is like to fish for crappie on Lake Champlain from a boat for the first time this year today. What a blast it was! We hit the water around 6am but didn’t get any production till much later in the day. We checked a few spots early only to catch several bluegill and bass. The fishing is much different than that of a normal spring setting… The water is low and warming up very quick. I think we hit a max of 48 degrees Fahrenheit.  There was lots of activity on the surface of the water from the bait being chased but it proved difficult to catch any of the fish. We determined quickly that we were in a bad spot so onward we went.

The next spot we were on got off to a slow start. We had several fish nibble but not commit. We worked up and down the shore line with little success. We checked on one more spot on the way out of the bay and found good news finally. This spot was worthy of a handshake with the fishhound. It took only one cast to know we were on a pile of spring crappie.

We sat in one spot for maybe the next two hours and each pulled around 200 crappie. It was a mixed bag of blacks and whites that heavily favored the blacks. It didn’t matter if we vertical jigged them or were casting with a bobber. If the bait was in the water, there was a fish about to bite it. The hot bait today was a Bobby Garland in any color. Probably one of the best bites from any species that I have ever had part of! We left early because of prior commitments but it was difficult to leave when the bite was picking up and the size was increasing! I went home with a limit to cut for fish feeds throughout this summer.

Here’s the bag from today. Some slabbers for sure!

This is the set up we used

Apparently this was on the menu for lunch today!

Looks like a senior picture right?

A Look Back At The Season

Now that I have officially called it quits for the ice fishing season I am wondering what I will do with myself until my summer work starts up. I began the unpacking process of all my gear today. Mainly, I had to bleach my buckets and cooler to stop the spread of the horrid fish stink before putting them in storage until ice up in the fall. Hopefully, that is in November but I’ll settle for mid December. Ha! I have been dreading this day for the last couple of weeks but with the temps we are experiencing and seeing how fast the ice has been going, it didn’t come as a surprise. So that helped!

One of the first big tasks I have to tackle is my vehicles. I know that both of my cars need a serious scrub down – inside and out, a wax, and a few days with the windows down. The stink of fish has worked itself further and further into every corner possible with each trip. The last few weeks of warmer temperatures have produced some near gagging car rides home; especially, in the forester with everything only a few feet away from me! After that, in no order of importance, I need to load up my open water gear, check on trail cameras, get the bow set up for the fall, and even out my ice fishing tan (look at my hand below). I sound like a woman right?

So, I knew throughout the season that I was putting some hours in but up until now I didn’t realize the quantity. I was on the ice fishing for 524 hours and spent 145.5 hours in a vehicle. Lots of trips to the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain! Fortunately, for me and both of my rigs, I didn’t have to drive every trip. Each trip out averaged just under 9 hours on the ice and a round trip drive time of 2.5 hours. I think if you were to add up the time spent preparing, talking, and thinking fishing over the last 3 months, you may find a few minutes that were fish-free. I hate to admit it but I think that might be the definition of an addiction…

I learned some great stuff this winter, caught some fish to be proud of along the way, and made some new friends. I was able to get a good grasp on the basics of “panfishing” through the ice and gained a huge appreciation for the little guys of the lakes! I have got to say that a large part of my success was due to a few specific individuals. So thank you to Jamie with Fish Hounds Outdoors, Scott, Bobby, Jeremiah, and everyone else for putting up with all the questions and random phone calls day and night!

3-6-12 – Working On The Whites

At the beginning of the year I set myself a few goals. Although they weren’t too high of a standard for most, I knew it would be enough of a challenge for me. Being that this is my first full year of fishing panfish, that’s where most of my goals were focused.  The first goal I planned to get after was catching a limit of crappie from the Connecticut River. My other two panfish related goals were to catch a white crappie from Lake Champlain and to catch a fish to mount. I don’t care if it is a bluegill, pumpkinseed, or crappie. My final goal is to catch a legal walleye.

Earlier this season, I had several days that I caught limits of crappie on the river in different spots. Not only was it good to be able to check off one of my goals but I put a few quality meals into the freezer at the same time! I was off to a good start! Until yesterday, I have only had one shot at catching a white.

I got an invite to go fish with James Vladyka owner/operator of  Fish Hounds Outdoors on Lake Champlain. He said that they were going out to target deep water crappie and I that I had a good chance at a white! It wasn’t very hard to convince me to leave home at 3:30am to make the 100 mile trek. I beat the guys I was going to be fishing with for the day by only a few minutes and after packing up the sled and four wheeler we got out to the spot.

It didn’t take long for us to start catching fish but the bite was short lived. With my first hook up only 15 minutes into the day, I was eager to get my hands on my first white. After a few seconds of cranking the fish up what do you suppose it was… A black crappie! Damn! I unhooked and released the fish as it wasn’t very big but after only a few more drops, I snagged into my goal. Although it wasn’t a monster, I had the opportunity to up my personal best.

Throughout the morning, we all caught a few more fish but they were pretty tight lipped. The best bite for me in the morning was on minnows hooked with a size 4 tungsten jig made by Bentley Fishing USA. Even though jig color probably didn’t matter, I stuck with burgundy all day while the other guys used silver and white.

Mid-day, we entertained the idea of packing up and moving to a different location so we could pass the time until the evening bite by jigging up gills, seeds, and maybe some crappie. We decided not to move because there was a shot at a mid day bite. The majority of the fish we caught mid day were bass. Some hogs at that!

After a slow mid day, we were all looking forward to the evening bite! Unfortunately, that time never came on strong. We got some really nice fish but we were just picking at them sporadically all day. I’m glad I got to get out with Jamie and crew for the day. I learned how exciting it is to jig deep water fish on minnows. I can’t wait till the opportunity presents itself again! Thanks Fish Hound! I’ll send you out with a few more memorable pics from the day.

Oh and I set my personal best 4 different times. This was my best at 14″.