North Lake Champlain in mid May?

[cheech]

Myself and a bunch of guys I fish with have been to the Rouses Point, NY/ alburgh, Vt. area many times in late June and July. Fantastic SM, LM and Pike fishing always, but they want to book mid May this year. I’ve been to Saranac that early 3x and it’s still winter up there, and the bite can be slow. Will Champlain in mid May be any different?

  Any chance for bass that early on Champlain up by the Can. border.

[Highlander1]

Lake George is still thawing out sometimes in May, have to think north Lake Champlain is still cold, early June looks early enough.

[Philly]

I've been snowed on in central Vermont a couple of times in the last 15 years over the week before Memorial Day.  It would depend on what type of spring/mud season they have.  It's also prime black fly season.  That said, I just checked the regs and bass season doesn't open till the second Saturday in June.  Bass fishing is not on the menu in mid-May.  Walleye and Pike fishing would be an option.

[cheech]

All the big tourneys are June/July around the spawns. After a bunch of research, I’ve read that April and May can be good for C&R prespawn bass.
 In May they aren’t bedding and hugging the shoreline, but are offshore bunched up on shoals, rockbeds, rockypoints etc.

  

[Hook I]

if i have a considerable distance to travel ,from my experience every time we booked a trip by the calendar , weather was horrible , we learned to book a week - 3 days in advance ,I have held that true for decades now  

[cheech]

Except for a big blow the weather really doesn’t matter, but the fishing does! It’s the only availability of two cabins and two boats, so we’re going to take a chance in mid May.

 

[fishing4life]

I'm sure your not allowed to fish for bass before the 2nd sat of June.on an other note has anyone fished here.As I'm looking for a place to stay by the lake that has a boat dock or ramp. not looking for nothing fancy  

[27conch]

You don't want to fish pre-spawn bass anywhere..

[buddha162]

9 hours ago, 27conch said:

You don't want to fish pre-spawn bass anywhere..

 

Why?

[27conch]

The fish are trying to spawn and already stressed out.  Plus they are on beds so its like fishing in a barell,  That's why a lot of places the season begins after this.

[buddha162]

1 hour ago, 27conch said:

The fish are trying to spawn and already stressed out.  Plus they are on beds so its like fishing in a barell,  That's why a lot of places the season begins after this.

 

That's spawn/bed fishing - and I agree 100%, bed fishing is for losers. 

 

But leading up to the spawn ("prespawn") they are fat and healthy and feeding - water temps are cool, the fish are shallow - very low release/barotrauma mortality. 

 

[cheech]

We launch in Alburgh, Vt, but mostly fish the NY side. The NY license is reciprocal in that area. Closed season C&R is legal in both states, but we will check all Vt. regs when we arrive.

  The fish don’t start bedding till June, and evidently ( from a lot of reading) April-May is popular for bass fishing.

[BrianBM]

eeee, black fly season. How well does Deet work on them?

[CWitek]

A good repellant works surprisingly well.

 

I often hunt turkey upstate during May, and DEET tames the black flies pretty well.