CATCHIN' ABOARD THE POINTER

Yesterday I had the opportunity to fish with Bill and Rob aboard Bill's boat "Pointer".  Man...what a great vessel to fish from.  I can only dream of owning a boat as seaworthy as this.

We hit the water early in the morning in search of Lake Champlain Land locked Atlantic Salmon.  It didn't take long, and we found the piles of bait we were in search of to fish over. 

The first fish netted came soon after finding the bait, Rob netted this pretty 3+ pounder that was soon to be filleted.

Fishing was pretty steady for a couple hours after that.  We ended up putting eight salmon in the net along with two lake trout.  Several nice fish were dropped behind the boat including one that hit a Slide Diver Lite Bite, peeled a BUNCH of line, and dropped the hook.  That's' fishin'!

The best fish of the day measured right at 24 inches and weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces.  Once again, the Slide Diver Lite Bite provided the stealthy presentation that fooled this fish.

Fortunately for me, I was the one that grabbed the rod with the fish on, while Rob was working another fish to the net. 

I think I'll enter this one in the new Vermont Master Angler Program!

Thanks again to Bill and Rob for a fun day of catchin' aboard the Pointer.

Fish on, fish H8 me.

Raz

CATCHIN' ABOARD THE POINTER

BIG BEAUTIFUL LAKE CHAMPLAIN BROWN TROUT

What a big beautiful Lake Champlain Brown Trout.  Absolutely the finest specimen I've seen from the jewel we call Lake Champlain.

Theresa Bilodeau was trolling on the Inland Sea with her husband Matt.  They were in the third day of the Lake Champlain International Derby when the fish hit a black and white Hi-Tech with a purple stripe, running behind the stealthy Lite Bite Slide Diver.
Theresa's fish weighed an impressive 5.78 pounds, the largest I've seen from Champlain!  Although it was the largest Brown Trout entered into the derby, it fell short of "placing", due to the derby not having a separate category for Brown Trout, and it had to be entered into the salmon category.

Theresa and Matt decided to give the catch a permanent place in thier home, on the wall.  I would have done the same!

Congratulations Theresa on a fine catch!

Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

BIG BEAUTIFUL LAKE CHAMPLAIN BROWN TROUT

STEELHEAD RAINBOW TROUT

On Sunday, Cathy joined me for a few hours of trolling on Lake Champlain's Inland Sea. We had it tough, we kept dropping fish, just couldn't keep them on the hook.  We ended up going three for seven on salmonids. 
I could only get the down-riggers to fire once, no matter what I did!
Everything else was on 1.5 to 3 colors of lead-core, or the lite-bite slide diver set at about 22ish.

Last fish of the trip, the slide diver fires again. We've decided this was our last run. Cathy doesn't normally want to fight the fish but as soon as the rod fired, I said "here, you take it,,,c'mon"

She wrestles the rod, the fish, and the slide diver and does very well.  The fish made two nice runs and she hung on, each time her eye's lighting up and excitement in her voice.  Several times the fish, carrying the slide diver, rocketed out of the water.
Finally:
Netted...STEELHEAD!  The first on the Razzle Dazzle!

 
Steelhead or Rainbow Trout are in Lake Champlain, they're just not as prolific as the other salmonids.
When one is caught, it's exciting news!
 
In 2004 when Cathy and I bought our boat, she put the first Landlocked Atlantic Salmon in it.  Now, she has the right to claim the first Steelhead!
She's a keeper!
 
Fish on, fish H8 me.
Raz

STEELHEAD RAINBOW TROUT