Last year, I spent a week at Crown Point with my youngest son. I had 4 days allotted to fishing, but I lost my prop early on the second day. I made it out on day 3 and fished a bay (more on that bay later) but day 4 was windy so we hiked the trails where Fort Independence once stood.

 

This year, I booked 8 nights, Saturday to Sunday. Saturday was setup camp, go get wood, ice, fish and meat from Norm's Bait & Tackle down the road, who is sadly retiring come Labor Day but the best meat and fish you can get,  and everything else food related from Hannaford which was a good 30 minute drive away.

 

On Sunday, the forecast said afternoon thunderstorms so we decided to get up, drink some tea and do the museum and see what it looked like when we got out. We didn't get the thunderstorms or much rain, but the wind was going at 40mph, so we decided to stay in. Did a little shore fishing, but didn't get anything.

 

On Monday, it was fairly cold and the wind gusts were over 30mph, so we decided to go across the bridge into Vermont after we drank our morning tea and made lunch to a culvert we've driven by several times before. My kid got two decent bass on his first three casts fishing the culvert. After getting nothing myself, I decided to fish the culvert across the street, and caught one pretty quickly, but nothing for a while. Since the bite in the culvert died down, I decided to try throwing into the water in the backside of the lake arm. This was around 3:30. By 5pm, I had caught 8 bass, and this includes having to take a break to relieve myself in the bushes and grab some peanuts from the car to snack on. We combined for 25 bass and a bowfin.

 

On Tuesday, we tried fishing the grass in front of the forts and under the bridge, but could not get a bite. The winds were also pretty strong which is a recurring theme here, which makes fishing open water. The wind did eventually die down later in the day and that let us try fishing for smallmouth on a hard bottom, rocky section. By the end of the day, we decided to visit the bay near the culvert, and I caught one, and my kid caught 4, including the probably 4.xlb bass in the picture (he didn't weigh it, but it was 20" long) in the culvert. I also wanted to try to get a sunset picture, I got one from there last year that was one of the best I ever took. We didn't get a clear sunset that night (too many clouds) but I did snag this picture of him fishing. What a beautiful place...

 

Wednesday was cold and windy, so we decided to stay in.

 

On Thursday, my kid had gotten sick, I think it was indigestion largely as a result of the massive ribeyes we ate Tuesday night (I accidentially ordered 2 1 to 1.25lb ribeye steaks where I wanted two between .6 and .75lbs each). To be fair, it was the best ribeye I ever made. So I got him some indigestion meds and went out for a bit myself. I ended up going through the culvert to catch some fish. This was the calmest day wind wise we had. I threw a Strike King KVD Ocho KVD Magic color, which kind of matched the water color which is more stained than on the main lake side and wasn't getting any bites. So I decided to try the green pumpkin colored baby brush hog and instantly got 4 bass.

 

On Friday, we flipped some grass a while and went back through the culvert since my kid didn't get to do it, and caught a number of fish. I was catching them on KVD Ocho's in a purple color and a junebug XZone deception worm on a drop shot, which confirmed that the KVD magic color just didn't stand out enough. We got 4 bass each.

 

On Saturday, we wanted to skip that bay entirely and try to find another spot but the winds were even more brutal, getting up to 25mph, so after getting dropped on some 3 foot breakers we headed straight to the culvert. I caught 7 bass and my kid got at least 3.

 

The bay where we ended up catching all of our fish is kind of interesting. Not only did I figure out that I needed a color to stand out, but I kind of figured out what was going on. We caught all of our larger bass either in the culvert or on the side of the causeway that is by it. Then all the small bass are in the backside of the arm and don't pass through the culvert since the big bass that can eat them are there.

 

I'll definitely be going back here. Next year I'll probably pick some of the New Yorkers brains about info on where else to catch bass and what to try. Such a beautiful spot, I’m sure I’ll go back.

 

It’s been a while since I got on such a great bite. The only trip I caught more bass was Lake Dunmore in August 2021, where I will be going for 8 nights starting next Saturday.

 

What a windy week! 40 mph and 30 mph and 25 mph. Wow! I'm glad you had a great time.

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

What a windy week! 40 mph and 30 mph and 25 mph. Wow! I'm glad you had a great time.

Thursday had gusts around 12 but that and late Tuesday was as good as we’d get. Yeah the winds kicked my butt!

7 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Thursday had gusts around 12 but that and late Tuesday was as good as we’d get. Yeah the winds kicked my butt!

 

They'd have kicked my butt too. I'll launch this afternoon in 8 mph wind, but with a 15' 6" canoe that only weighs 32 pounds, I'll be bullied. I'll stick to trolling unless I can find some sheltered water to cast that holds bass.

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

They'd have kicked my butt too. I'll launch this afternoon in 8 mph wind, but with a 15' 6" canoe that only weighs 32 pounds, I'll be bullied. I'll stick to trolling unless I can find some sheltered water to cast that holds bass.

My kayak is the Old Town Bigwater 132PDL that was made for heavy winds. I will say having a kayak made for it makes it much easier. 12mph winds even on Champlain was still quite manageable, I'll still blow sideways eventually, but slowly enough I can get a few good casts in in a precise area, or I can let myself drift with the wind and fish. 17mph is much more of a challenge. 20+ and Champlain starts to look like the ocean.

3 hours ago, Boomstick said:

My kayak is the Old Town Bigwater 132PDL that was made for heavy winds. I will say having a kayak made for it makes it much easier. 12mph winds even on Champlain was still quite manageable, I'll still blow sideways eventually, but slowly enough I can get a few good casts in in a precise area, or I can let myself drift with the wind and fish. 17mph is much more of a challenge. 20+ and Champlain starts to look like the ocean.

 

I love the name "Bigwater." And I REALLY love that it lets you launch on days that I'm housebound.

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I love the name "Bigwater." And I REALLY love that it lets you launch on days that I'm housebound.

I've been out a few days where I would have been absolutely terrified on my old SS127. It was a super stable kayak but could not handle breakers the same way.

 

I decided on the kayak because 4mph as a casual pedal for me, where 2.5-3 on others was about the same effort.

1 hour ago, Boomstick said:

I've been out a few days where I would have been absolutely terrified on my old SS127. It was a super stable kayak but could not handle breakers the same way.

 

I decided on the kayak because 4mph as a casual pedal for me, where 2.5-3 on others was about the same effort.

 

That's high praise. I own three canoes, so I'm not shopping for another boat, but if I were....

Just now, Swamp Girl said:

 

That's high praise. I own three canoes, so I'm not shopping for another boat, but if I were....

Canoes are fun too