I bought a small bass boat this summer and started fishing for largemouths on the southern part of L. Champlain (South Bay to Ticonderoga).  Up until a few days ago, I thought I had things figured out and was catching some nice fish almost every time out (best so far being 6 lbs. 1 oz.).

 

But this fall weather change has me stumped.  The last two days, I've only caught one or two largemouths, but I've been catching big smallmouths where I used to catch the bigmouths!

 

I grew up fishing for smallies on Lake George.  I used to love how aggressive the big ones got in the fall.  I guess the Champlain smallies get aggressive too, but do they move into different areas?  This morning, I caught a couple of nice ones on the deep edge of a big flat, with no rock or structure anywhere around (just some small, isolated clumps of water chestnut).  I was very surprised to catch them there.  On the boat ride home, I saw a couple of very nice ones coming clear out of the water in the same kind of areas.

 

Can anyone give me some tips on where the largemouths might be found?  The water is very low, and that always throws me off a bit.  Today I caught smallmouths, pike, pickerel, yellow perch, white perch, and even a small sheepshead on 'traps, spinnerbaits, and a T-rigged Senko, but I never put a hook in a largemouth.

 

I love catching big smallies, but they were sparse.  I want to catch up with the bigmouths again!

 

Tight lines,

Bob

The typical fall pattern for largemouth in the fall is that they chase shad into the backs of creeks. Depending on your lake, though, this may vary. 

 

A small lake around me I fish doesn't have creeks, and in the fall the fish can be seen busting shad on one shallow flat on one side of the lake. Typically fall means the largemouth go shallow, but where exactly varies per lake.

 

Find the bait and the fish should be nearby.

Just got home from down south. We launched out of Chimney Point went down to the 39 Marina/ Fort Ticonderoga worked back north a bit then said screw it and ran to Button Bay for smallies.

So the thing about the Smallie invasion of the south is that it was driven by the Alewifes and smallies following them. The Fall just makes them more aggressive (gotta get fat for winter).

Now yesterday a front started to move through and continued through today. Thursday a few guys from the club went down to pre-fish for today's tournament. One guy got 40 on frogs in the last of the thick stuff. Another guy got an 8.5lber down there. At that point the weather had been consistent for 3-5 days, that helps the bite. Today there were 2 17lb bags 15 & 14 finished out the top 4. It was much toughe r (as you saw). In that skinny water fronts and temperature drops really turn them off/down.

We found them on the outside edge of the weeds in 6-8ft and in the really thick junk in 3ft.

Frogs and senkos killed it today.

Look for the Coontail with clear water...

Just got home from down south. We launched out of Chimney Point went down to the 39 Marina/ Fort Ticonderoga worked back north a bit then said screw it and ran to Button Bay for smallies.

So the thing about the Smallie invasion of the south is that it was driven by the Alewifes and smallies following them. The Fall just makes them more aggressive (gotta get fat for winter).

Now yesterday a front started to move through and continued through today. Thursday a few guys from the club went down to pre-fish for today's tournament. One guy got 40 on frogs in the last of the thick stuff. Another guy got an 8.5lber down there. At that point the weather had been consistent for 3-5 days, that helps the bite. Today there were 2 17lb bags 15 & 14 finished out the top 4. It was much toughe r (as you saw). In that skinny water fronts and temperature drops really turn them off/down.

We found them on the outside edge of the weeds in 6-8ft and in the really thick junk in 3ft.

Frogs and senkos killed it today.

Look for the Coontail with clear water...

 

Picture of the 8.5 lber ?

Thanks for the tips!

 

Yesterday's all-day rain must have turned the largemouths back on.  I had a good day today, with several largemouths in the 3-4 lb. range, plus a 10 lb. 4 oz. northern pike and a big bowfin that I didn't weigh.

 

I lost my two favorite Rat-L-Traps to big pike... they were on the prowl today!  I was using 20 lb. flouro leader on my 30 lb. braid and they still chomped through it easily.

 

I lip-hooked this one and got my lure back (with the pike attached!).

 

 

Ugly bowfin that took a wacky-rigged Senko!

 

 

Tight lines,

Bob