Smallmouth Surge and Perch Parade: Productive Patterns for Late Fall Champlain

Artificial Lure here with your Lake Champlain fishing report for Thursday, November 13, 2025. We kicked off the morning with a brisk late-fall chill: air temps hovered near 41°F at dawn, climbing only by a few degrees through midday. Winds blew light from the northwest early, but expect them to freshen to 10–15 mph by afternoon. Skies are mostly clear, with some passing clouds and a chance of patchy fog at first light, so visibility is decent for anglers working the open lake. Sunrise greeted us at 6:44 a.m., and sunset tonight will be at 4:29 p.m., so make the most of those midday bites. Lake Champlain’s water levels remain low compared to recent years, so shoreline spots and mid-lake humps are accessible and producing well, though shallow launches require caution. And for those keeping tabs on tides: as a freshwater lake, Champlain’s ‘tidal’ swings are wind-driven, not lunar, so focus on wind shifts—not tide tables. Fish activity has been surprisingly lively even as water temps cool into the upper 40s. According to Major League Fishing’s Toyota Series update from November 10, the bite is still excellent for postspawn smallmouth. Anglers have been stacking up smallies in the 3- and 4-pound class, with 18- to 21-pound bags reported over two-day stretches, so the numbers and average size are both impressive for this late season. Largemouth have retreated into deeper grass and reeds, and some solid 4-pounders have come out of the Ticonderoga area. Meanwhile, perch schools are thick in the shallows, drawing attention from both largemouth and smallmouth. Best baits for today’s conditions? The top producers have been **minnow-style soft plastics**—think a 5-inch Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm on a 1/4-ounce Picasso jighead, or a Deps Sakamata Shad rigged on light tungsten. Ned rigs are also putting up numbers: try a Ned Senko in green pumpkin or shad color. If topwater is your style, Berkley J-Walkers and PowerBait MaxScent Flatnose Jerk Shad have brought some explosive morning surface action around Malletts Bay and northern grass beds. On the co-angler side, Carolina rigs and Zoom Super Speed Craw have been winning techniques mid-lake when the bite slows, especially during the calm midday lull. If you’re after trophy fish, don’t neglect glide baits—local sticks have reported big bites on War Panda Nug glides and jerkbaits in deeper grass off the Ti area. Recent catches by tournament and local anglers show smallmouth outnumbering largemouth about 3 to 1, with plenty of 4-pounders showing up in tournament bags. Perch and northern pike are active in the bays, and perch imitations are working well for all predator species. Reports from the Plattsburgh and Alburg Passage says suspended smallies are chasing alewives: focus on flats and secondary points in 8–12 feet of water, just like Tripp Berlinsky did—he called it “mayhem.” Watch out for rock piles and bait balls; where you find them, you’ll find big bass. For hot spots, I recommend: - **Malletts Bay:** This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.