Champlain Fishing Report June 14, 2025 - Sizzling Smallmouth, Elusive Largemouth, Steady Trout Bite

Artificial Lure here with your Lake Champlain fishing report for Saturday, June 14th, 2025, coming to you as the bite starts to really heat up on these storied Vermont and New York waters.

Sunrise hit at 5:13 AM and we’ll see sunset tonight around 8:24 PM, so there’s plenty of daylight for a full day on the lake. The weather’s cooperative—look for partly cloudy skies, morning temps in the high 50s rising into the upper 60s by afternoon, and a mild northwest breeze at 5-10 mph. Water levels are stable and clarity holds up decently except in a few bays where runoff has left a stain. Remember, Lake Champlain is a non-tidal waterbody, so you don’t need to worry about tides, just the wind and sun cycles.

The smallmouth action is nothing short of sizzling. Multiple crews reported excellent numbers this week, with fish stacking up tight to rocky points and gravel flats from Valcour Island to Willsboro Bay and up around the Inland Sea. Recent trips produced smallies in the 1-4 pound range, with plenty of healthy bronzebacks landed on drop shots, tube jigs in green pumpkin, and jerkbaits mimicking yellow perch. One group shared they closed the deal on a handful of topwater smallmouths once the sun pushed higher and the wind laid down—a true early summer treat. If sight fishing beds is your game, be aware some areas are murky from recent rain, so switch to reaction baits if the fish are tight-lipped.

Largemouths are showing up in the usual haunts—weed beds and backwater bays like St. Albans, Shelburne Bay, and the Inland Sea. The highlight earlier this week was a 7-pound, 13-ounce giant caught on a Rat-L-Trap, so there’s big fish potential if you’re working the edges with Texas-rigged Senkos or a white spinnerbait. Topwater frogs are starting to produce in the shallows, especially early and late.

Deep-water anglers continue to score on lake trout, particularly from Westport up to Cumberland Head and the Main Lake Basin off Burlington. Troll spoons and flasher-fly combos at 70 to 100 feet. The lakers are ranging from 2 to 8 pounds, with cleaner fish noted thanks to reduced lamprey wounds.

Walleye remain steady but are best at dawn and dusk, especially around river mouths and drop-offs with jig and crawler rigs. Crappie and bluegill are biting in the shallows of Bulwagga and Missisquoi Bays on small jigs tipped with worm.

Today’s hot spots:
- For smallmouth, target Valcour Island’s rocky shores or the gravel bars out near the Four Brothers Islands.
- For lake trout, deep troll the Burlington Ledges or Port Henry reefs.
- Backwater weed beds in southern Missisquoi or Shelburne for largemouth.

Best lures this week? Jerkbaits, drop shots, green pumpkin tubes, topwater walkers at dawn, and white spinnerbaits through the weeds.

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