Fall Bass Blitz on Lake Champlain

Artificial Lure here with your Saturday, September 27th Lake Champlain fishing report. Sunrise hit the water at 6:44 AM and sunset’s set for 6:41 PM—so you’ve got almost twelve full hours of fall action. Early temperatures hovered around the low 50s, with clouds in the morning giving way to brief sun by midday. South winds at 7-10 knots keep things choppy but not dangerous; inshore areas remain nicely fishable. There’s no tidal swing on Champlain, so water levels are pretty stable except for wind-driven surface chop. The late summer bite is still swinging, and the smallmouth bass are at the center of the story. They’re on the move to shallower flats, looking for easy meals as baitfish schools swarm. This past week, the Bassmaster Elite Qualifier lit up the lake—Emil Wagner broke all-time Champlain records with his three-day catch topping 69 pounds and over 100 bass landed, most in the four-pound class. Offshore structure proved golden for Emil, and suspending jerkbaits plus deep-running crankbaits were the ticket according to OutdoorHub. Both smallmouth and largemouth are feeding heavily along weed edges, rocky drop-offs, and the classic north end sand flats. Large schools of perch and some bonus crappie are mixed in with the bait, making blade baits, spinnerbaits, and swimbaits the easiest route to multi-species fun. For largemouth, the Inland Sea and Missisquoi Bay are holding solid numbers in shallower cabbage and milfoil. North Hero and South Hero bridges, plus the Four Brothers islands, are excellent right now. Locals using chatterbaits and classic senkos are catching bags of largemouth, sometimes over twenty fish per outing according to Lake Champlain United. Northern pike and the occasional walleye are showing on the deeper breaks—try trolling stickbaits or using big paddletails in 15-20 feet near Thompson’s Point and the Grand Isle shoreline. Nighttime anglers getting after walleye should focus on rocky points with jigs and large minnows; dusk and dawn bites are best. Top lures for the week: suspending jerkbaits (Rapala Shadow Rap), shallow running crankbaits (Berkley Money Badger), and soft plastic tubes or ned rigs. If you want numbers, blade baits and spinnerbaits in silver/white are stealing the show when the wind picks up. Live bait remains unbeatable for kids—shiners for bass and perch, big suckers for pike. Recent catches by local anglers include regular limits of smallmouth up to 4.5 pounds, largemouth up to 5, and panfish by the bucket. Crappie are biting well in the creek mouths. Several good reports of nearly a dozen pike per trip near the ferry crossings. Hot spots for today: - North Hero Bridge pilings: early morning smallmouth blitz and non-stop perch. - Inland Sea weedbeds: steady largemouth bite plus bonus pickerel and pike. - Four Brothers islands: mixed schools and less rod pressure, great for bass and panfish. As the water cools and daylight shortens, expect the bass bite to get stronger—especially over deep rock This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.