Fall Smallmouth Blitz on Lake Champlain

Good morning anglers, Artificial Lure reporting in with your September 12th, 2025 fishing report for Lake Champlain and its surrounding waters. Let’s kick things off with today’s weather: Lake Champlain is waking up to cloudy skies and cool temperatures typical of early fall in Upstate New York. Last night brought another crisp chill, and today the highs are expected in the low 60s with a light northwest wind—perfect conditions for chasing bass. Sunrise hit at 6:27 a.m., and the sun will settle at 7:09 p.m., giving you plenty of daylight to get a full session on the water according to NOAA's latest sunrise and sunset data. With the recent stretch of cool nights, expect fish to be active and on the hunt for an easy meal. The lake’s water level is still well below normal—about three feet under the usual mark, due to ongoing regional drought. This means a lot of the usual shoreline cover is exposed, changing the game for shallow anglers. Many largemouth haunts look different, but don’t let that discourage you; this only means you’ll want to focus on areas with submerged vegetation, wood, and docks. However, the real action right now is offshore, where smallmouth bass are on a full-blown fall feeding spree, grouping tightly and hunting bait schools. As pro Kyle Patrick told Bassmaster.com, “Fall feed baby!” and the cold snap has these brown brutes eating well. Recent catches reflect this shift. Anglers have been hammering big smallmouth in the lake’s midsection—think rock reefs, deep grasslines, and open water. Bag limits have been easily met, with the cream rising to the top on both quality and quantity. Local tournaments are regularly seeing limits of smallmouth pushing 18-20 pounds a day, with a few largemouth kicker fish thrown in for drama. If you’re hoping to join that club, dialing in on smallmouth is your best bet. As for numbers, most top anglers expect 20 pounds a day to be competitive, with predictions for winning totals north of 60 pounds over three days of tournament fishing. If largemouth is your passion, the lower lake—especially the legendary Ticonderoga (“Ti”) area—is your ticket. This stretch narrows like a river, loaded with shallow grass fields and piles of wood cover: prime territory for flipping jigs, casting frogs, and working stickworms wacky style. Still, Ti is a double-edged sword; it can deliver monster sacks of largemouth, but you might just as easily burn a day for little pay-off. Those marinas and private docks along the outer lakeshore still hold chunky largemouth too, especially if you focus on submersed vegetation. Now for the hot lure picks: If you’re targeting smallmouth, keep it simple and potent—jighead minnows are slaying right now. Drop shots, jerkbaits, and tubes are all essential in your kit. Look for bait schools offshore and use forward-facing sonar if you have it—there are plenty of “roamer” smallmouth in open water, not sitting on classic structure. For largemouth, go with frogs and jigs in the slop, This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.