Lonely Lunker Winner

Gotta toot my horn.
Winner, winner....Chicken Dinner!
That nice 8.22 pound Landlocked I pulled from Lake Champlain got me a Lonely Lunker prize in the Lake Champlain International All-Season Tournament.

Giddy up!

Another look at her:

She's still at the taxidermists.  I'll post a pic when I have the mount.

Next week-end is the 3rd annual Frostbite Salmon Shoot-out.  Weather permitting.
I landed a 3rd place fish last year...but have plans to clean house this year!

Fish on, Fish H8 me.
Raz 

Lonely Lunker Winner

WHACK-ITY...SMACK-ITY

We put a hurtin' on the fish, fishing Lake Champlain for Landlocked Atlantic's and Brown Trout this week-end.

Cathy piloted the boat Saturday...
We netted 13 Landlocks and lost three others.
A banner day considering this spring has been slower than normal.
A few are destined for the smoker.

Cathy's first day on the water this year and it was PERFECT!

The Brown Trout stayed elusive...

until Sunday aboard the Running&Gunning.

A couple good eater chunky footballs found their way to the net.



Casey with a green colored Brown

Then another nice Landlocked.

Again...

I fell just short of a qualifier for the Vermont Master Angler Program.

For the second time this year.



Total for the day, six or seven Landlocks and two Brown Trout.


And I loved the new Cannon Rod with the Daiwa 17LC I put on it!

Today's outing has been cancelled...
got a hard blow going on.

Fishing Lake Champlain for Landlocks, Brown's or Steel-head?
Be sure to pack some Honeybee's, they're hard to beat!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

WHACK-ITY...SMACK-ITY

ACROBATIC DANCERS...

We didn't set the world on fire yesterday but had fun trying.
My buddy Brett jumped aboard for an afternoon of fishing the Inland Sea of Lake Champlain for the jumping, acrobatic action of Landlocked Atlantic's.

We put our limit in the box...and lost a couple others. 
Warm balmy conditions and flat seas without a chop didn't impress me...but the fish didn't mind.

These guys are great table-fare...
Chase em down with Cold beer...
It don't get much better.

SPONSORED BY BEN AND THE CREW AT DOCKSIDE OUTDOORS!

We thought we'd get an earlier start this morning...
but the truck fell ill.
We'll try for tomorrow!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

ACROBATIC DANCERS...

PICKIN' AT EM

We're struggling a little bit with the flood waters...
but we're getting out.

I managed a nice "incidental" Small-mouth that fell just short of qualifying for the Vermont Master Angler Program.

Monster Landlocked Atlantic Salmon!

We'll just keep after em!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

Raz

PICKIN' AT EM

Struggling

Having the boat in the water three times now...
and just one fish to show for it.
Matt did this Landlocked Atlantic yesterday after we both hooked and lost one each.

Fishing has been tough for me...
Slow ain't the word.

We've thrown everything except the kitchen sink at them
but can't seem to locate any active fish.

We beat the crap out of this one...

Bloodied eye, ripped lip, and a broken nose.


I might as well put the boat away.
I hear folks are doing better fishing from shore.

I'll keep fishing, it's got to get better soon!

Fish on, fish H8 me.

Raz

Struggling

COLD WATER SHAKE-DOWN

Joined by my buddy Matt...
The Razzle Dazzle hit the water of Lake Champlain for the first time yesterday.
The motor fired right up, didn't miss a beat, and all the gear worked as expected.

No Fish...
Got the SKUNK
And a heck of a sun-burn under the blue Vermont skies.

And Matt brought along this cool Ego Slider net of his.

Gotta love it...
We'll get 'em next time!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

COLD WATER SHAKE-DOWN

GREASERS AND GOLD

From going through the ice up to my belly on Sunday, to trolling for Lake Trout on Lake Champlain on Wednesday and Thursday.
Who'd a thunk it?

Cold and chilly on Wednesday morning after hard soaking rain on Tuesday.  The roads were slick, the windshield on Rob's boat  had to be scraped, and the fish were waiting.

Launching at the mouth of the Winooski River was a cinch.  It's well protected, even from the high flows and floating debris that spring brings.

To the lake we motor, slowly through the logs, sticks, trees caught on sand-bars, and bits and pieces of ice.  Find the mud-line from the flows of the big river...find fish.

One fish, two fish, three fish, four.
Cowboy's fish...

And Rob's got more...

Ah, okay that's getting corny...enough of that!

Robs wearing gloves, is he afraid to touch them?

No way...he cleans, preps, displays, and sells fish for a living!

He's getting ready to clean fish...

Always an exciting time.  Whenever Rob whips out his knife and lays it to flesh...

good things happen.

A rod on my side of the boat fires...

reeling, fighting...

fighting and reeling.

A pleasant surprise!

Although out of season, this beautiful hen Walleye comes unwillingly to the net.

7.5 pounds of golden fish porn that was headed up the river to tease and play with the fellas.

Kissed, nursed, and gently petted she slides away to continue her journey.

Total to the net for the day, seven Greasy Lake Trout and one Golden Lake Champlain Walleye.

Three bleeders had to be kept for the smoker. 

Thursday was a different day.

Ron asked me to join him on his boat for three hours.

We'll meet at nine he says.

I get up before day-break.  My boat is still stuck behind a big mud-hole and it's 24° outside.

Perfect...

The mud, snow, and slop is frozen solid...time to free the Razzle Dazzle from its Hibernation Den and get it out where she can be summerized. 

I meet Ron at the ramp at nine and off we go.

Again, thru debris to the lake...in search of Greasers.

We enter the lake:

Crap...skim ice.  Too cold during the night, no breeze and the water skimmed over. 

There's boats to the North a mile or so...we motor out.

Crunch, crunch, crackle-crunch.

And start setting up.

Slow...slow...too slow.

Changing lures, putting out lead-core, set up a rigger.

Nothing.

Then a flurry...

fish on! fish off.

Easy come...easy go.

Another

Another

and Another.

We let them all go...

And I think Ron flipped me the bird as he hid behind a fish.

A gorgeous day...

Seeking, hooking, netting, and releasing Lake Champlain Lake Trout in April.

Fish on, fish H8 me.

Raz

GREASERS AND GOLD

I HEARD THE FAT LADY SING

It looks like I'm done...
Done ice fishing for the season. I had no problem getting on the ice this morning but getting off the ice was a different story.
I thought I picked a good route but NOT...
I went through the ice...no creaking, no crackling, no warning at all.
SPLASH...
I was in up to my belly, flopping, flailing, flailing, and flailing, trying to get out...
I made it.
The most valuable gear (camera and phone) were in my upper most pockets just in case.
I had to dig thru ice and slush in my lower pockets to find my truck keys.
Stick a fork in me...
I'm done.

It's been a season of ice fishing for Lake Champlain Yellow Perch that I'd just as soon forget.
Getting on the ice was tough if not impossible at times and once on, moving around was out of the question.
Record snow falls made hard-water fishing this year miserable at best.

It's time to clean up the winter gear, stow it away safely, and look forward to a summer of lazy days trolling and fighting Lake Champlain's Salmonid population!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

I HEARD THE FAT LADY SING

I CALL HER PATTY...FATTY PATTY

FATTY PATTY

Ice fishing, Lake Champlain Yellow Perch...
For Mom & Dad.


19 GREAT EATERS

SIX OF EM WERE OVER THE TOP

I was almost solo:

Maybe the end of twenty-eleven ice???
(I got wet getting on and off the ice)

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

I CALL HER PATTY...FATTY PATTY

47-37-29

The temperature fell like a rock this morning.
47° when I woke up...
37° an hour later...
29° two hours later when I got off the ice.

I SHOULD HAVE CLOSED THE WINDOW

But I got enough for a good finger food snack of fresh yellow perch for those back at home.



Friday, I made it out for a couple of hours in the gale force winds. I caught about 30 yellow perch and kept 14 for Cathy and I to enjoy for dinner.
















Saturday...we did the Burlington Mardi-Gras!

And I met some new friends!

Last but definelty not least was last week-end with BoBo and The Fish Bandit.
They're quite the team...fish beware!!!



BoBo





The Fish Bandit

We didn't do big quanities of perch nor did we get any slabbers...but we had a riot!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

47-37-29

WORLD RECORD LAKE TROUT CAUGHT ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN?

Nicholas Palmer, age 15, of Alburgh, Vermont landed this 16.8 pound Lake Trout on 2-pound test line on Lake Champlain!

Quite possibly a world line class record taken thru the ice.

Simply put: AMAZING!

The complete story is here.

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

WORLD RECORD LAKE TROUT CAUGHT ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN?

FROSTBITE FISHIN'

This past week I've managed to hit the water twice in search of Lake Champlain Landlocked Salmon.
Sunday I was joined by my lovely wife Cathy.  We waited until the air temperature rose to the freezing mark of 32° F before heading out.

Cathy's bundled up, doing all the driving while trolling Lake Champlain.


We fished three and a half hours and hooked up over twenty times, all Landlocked Atlantic Salmon "clones" in the 15 to 17 inch range.
These fish were absolutly ravenous, it was nonstop action on all four trolling set ups. 

We had two rods on down-riggers, one lead-core line out, and one line out set up with a Slide Diver Lite Bite.  I started out the trip fishing with Honeybees, and never changed lures.  Why change something that is so hot, you can't keep them in the water?
What a riot. 
Soooo many fish, soooo little time!


Starboard side poised for action.









 

Tuesday, Rob calls me and asks if I'm in for a trip on Thanksgiving Day, in the morning.  "Early on, early off" he explains.
"Heck yeah, I'm in!"

We managed to get two other guys, Mark and Henry to join us.
We all met at Rob's house, piled our gear in his boat and headed out.  We hit the water at about 6 a.m. just before sunrise at a balmy 20° F with a slight chop on the water. 

Again, we managed about a three and a half hour trip, lead-core lines freezing up, and balls of ice on our rod tips, determined to catch fish and have fun doing it!
We found the Landlocks hovering around the baitfish just as I had found them on Sunday.  Unfortunately the fish weren't near as active as they were on Sunday but we picked at them and enjoyed our Lake Champlain and the company of each other.

Mark at sun-rise, setting lines.

 We managed to boat 10 Landlocked Salmon and two or three small Brown Trout.
"A great way to spend a Holiday morning on the water with friends!"

As I write this and look out the window, it's snowing and 32°F.  I wish I were on the water; there's something special about trolling through the snow flakes.

If your in the cold north country and venture out onto open water, be safe and be prepared. 
Have fun and catch fish! 
Frostbite season is here!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

FROSTBITE FISHIN'

DOUBLE DIGITS, SMALLER FISH

Cathy and I finally got on the water the other day and it was beautiful fall day to be on Lake Champlain.
We launched out of Converse Bay in search of salmon activity and found it right away.
When we launched, we immediately headed over to Whallons Bay to get out of the wind to set up.  I hadn't even got all our lines in the water when the first fish hit...
A dandy leaping silver Landlocked Atlantic Salmon.

The bigger mature fish are difficult to find in the lake right now as most of them are spawning in the rivers.
But...that doesn't mean there aren't any Landlocks to have fun with.  The fish that were stocked in the early spring, have been eating well and enjoying life in Lake Champlain.  These fish are now of legal size for the most part, most of them being between 16 and 17 inches, fat like footballs, and full of energy!

Four of the 12 fish we netted came home for the table.
I'm thinking the nice thin fillets will be absolutly delicious lightly breaded and pan fried...
or poached, or grilled, or broiled...
(Any way but loose!)

The hot color was pink or orange.  A gold MP-6 Honeybee from Tamiron Sporting Goods with orange, and a silver Speedy Shiner with pink took the most fish.  I tried lots of stuff to see what would work.  I couldn't seem to get any fish on green, purple, or blue.

The fish as of right now, are higher in the water column.  All our fish came from 15 to 48 feet down over 200 plus feet of water. 
We'll see if that changes when the big mature fish return to the lake!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

DOUBLE DIGITS, SMALLER FISH

FRIED BRAINS AND BOILED SALMON

With the thermometer hoovering in the mid 90's and the heat index even higher, I hit the water anyway.  Big Ben the owner of Dockside Outdoors jumped aboard the Razzle Dazzle with me yesterday for a 1/2 day of fishing out of Converse Bay.
It was far too hot to fish and I "know" we were crazy to be out there.
Barely a breeze, not hardly a ripple.


It was a tough bite to say the least. We went 2 for 3 on legal salmon and got pestered by a bunch of little shakers. Pink on silver worked, blue/purple "hot item" was firing, but I think the lure that fired the most was a purple/black honeybee mp6 by Tamiron. Ben covered 1/2 the white on the back side with black tape and nailed a nice 22 incher with it from 60ish down and a long lead behind the ball, maybe 30 feet.

There were very few boats on the water, we nearly had the place to ourselves.  It's just been too hot, the air too still, and no cloud cover to stop the relentless onslaught of solar energy.

Thanks to Jon (Bassbuddy) for the photograph!  Fun to fish along side him and his crew!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

FRIED BRAINS AND BOILED SALMON