Lake Champlain Bass Bonanza: Lures, Tactics, and the Latest Fishing Action

It’s Artificial Lure coming to you with your July 6th, 2025, narrative fishing report for Lake Champlain, straddling the Vermont and New York border.

Bright sunshine dominated most of the day, with temps sitting in the comfortable mid-70s and a gentle northwest breeze keeping things fresh. Sunrise rolled in at 5:21 AM, and sunset will dazzle at 8:38 PM, giving us a generous window to work the water. After a recent cold front, the lake was finicky in spots, but the bite stayed steady for anglers willing to adjust.

Let’s talk fish. Bass are the current stars of Lake Champlain, both smallmouth and largemouth showing up in numbers and size. Yesterday, just up north, pros and locals alike hauled in bags over twenty pounds, with Bryan LaBelle landing a five-bass limit topping 22 pounds, 15 ounces to clinch a win in a weekend derby. The shallows have held plenty of action, and bites were reported consistently from north to south, especially where milfoil and rock mix close to drops or current seams. Mixed bags included the odd hefty walleye and even a sturgeon or two for the lucky few, but bass are the big draw.

Bait and lure selection has been crucial. Locals in the know have been rolling with a few top producers:
- Texas-rigged soft plastics like the 4- to 5-inch Damiki Stinger or perch-colored Senko worms. Go subtle on those pressured spots—natural greens and browns outperformed flashier colors.
- Drop-shotting goby-hued shad shape worms or Roboworms around 12-15 feet of water found shy smallmouth hugging the bottom, especially as the day warmed.
- Carolina rigs, especially with a short, 1-foot leader and a green pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw, delivered when fish weren’t chasing. Drag slow across gravel or sand.
- For surface action, the brown SPRO frog was unbeatable in heavy weed mats, and a Strike King Sexy Dawg or Lucky Craft Gunfish produced those wild topwater strikes during the early morning calm.

Don’t forget the swim jig paired with a craw trailer—green pumpkin with a dash of orange claw did best—when working transition areas where weeds thin out into bare bottom.

Hot spots today included the mouth of the Bouquet River where current and bait meet, and the milfoil lines off the mouth of the Missisquoi Bay, particularly at first light. Both regions coughed up numbers and some real bruisers. If you’re hunting for consistent action, don’t overthink it—work windblown points with healthy grass and swap between finesse drop-shots and heavier jigs as conditions shift.

On the tidal front, Champlain isn’t tidal, but keep an eye on wind-driven current and inflows like the Bouquet and Ausable rivers. They’ve kept fish active and bait moving, especially after rains.

Overall, today anglers reported steady catches, with several describing it as “another day in paradise” despite some tricky wind and the lingering effects of last night’s cold front. Expect the bite to get hotter and more aggressive as the week progresses and the water warms back up.

Thanks for tuning in to your Lake Champlain fishing report. Don’t forget to subscribe for more local insight and tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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