06-07-2011, 11:10 AM
WATERBURY, VT -- Vermont Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Pat Berry and fisheries biologist Shawn Good took some time off from work recently and spent a day on southern Lake Champlain taking full advantage of the spring catch-and-release bass season.
The spring bass bite is in full swing due to rising water temperatures! With the high water conditions, Shawn and Pat found the largemouth positioned in the flooded wooded bottomlands in the backs of bays and coves in the Benson and Shoreham areas of the lake. Weaving the boat in and out of the flooded timber, Pat and Shawn flipped and pitched wacky and Texas-rigged senkos and soft plastic creature baits to the base of trees and bushes to boat over 40 largemouth bass. Not bad for less than five hours of fishing!
Despite the high water, there are still plenty of areas to launch a boat on Champlain, and the lake is safe and boatable. In addition to bass, the catfish, panfish, and gar fishing is really heating up too.
Vermont's spring catch-and-release bass season starts with trout fishing, the second Saturday in April, and continues until June 10 this year, the day before regular bass fishing begins.
The spring bass bite is in full swing due to rising water temperatures! With the high water conditions, Shawn and Pat found the largemouth positioned in the flooded wooded bottomlands in the backs of bays and coves in the Benson and Shoreham areas of the lake. Weaving the boat in and out of the flooded timber, Pat and Shawn flipped and pitched wacky and Texas-rigged senkos and soft plastic creature baits to the base of trees and bushes to boat over 40 largemouth bass. Not bad for less than five hours of fishing!
Despite the high water, there are still plenty of areas to launch a boat on Champlain, and the lake is safe and boatable. In addition to bass, the catfish, panfish, and gar fishing is really heating up too.
Vermont's spring catch-and-release bass season starts with trout fishing, the second Saturday in April, and continues until June 10 this year, the day before regular bass fishing begins.