Lake Champlain Fishing Report: Smallmouth Blitz, Lunker Largemouth, and Trophy Lake Trout Action

Good morning, Lake Champlain anglers! Artificial Lure here with your fishing report for Monday, May 26, 2025.

Sun's up bright and early at 5:15 AM today and won't be setting until about 8:26 PM, giving you plenty of daylight hours to work those lines. Weather-wise, we're looking at another beautiful day with temps climbing into the upper 60s by afternoon. Light easterly breeze this morning should keep the water surface just rippled enough to hide you from those wary fish.

Smallmouth bite has been absolutely on fire lately! These bronzebacks are fully committed to pre-spawn activity and are aggressively defending their territories. Reports from the past weekend show anglers landing 30-40 smallies per outing around the Burlington islands. Best action has been on rocky points and drop-offs in 8-15 feet of water[1][4]. Ned rigs worked slowly have been the ticket, though some folks are having great success with jerkbaits - that Megabass 110 +1 jr in Mat shad color has been getting a lot of attention lately[5].

Largemouth action continues to impress down south, particularly around Ticonderoga. Local anglers are reporting monster catches using spinnerbaits and soft plastics. Stick with watermelon or green pumpkin colors for best results[1][4].

Lake trout fishing has been nothing short of spectacular! Several reports of 30+ fish days coming from deeper structure off Plattsburgh and Westport. One guide reported landing over 30 lakers in just a 4-hour trip earlier this month, with a good dozen being native fish[3]. That's the kind of action that keeps us coming back!

For you salmon hunters out there, I'm hearing there's been a surge in activity, though details are still trickling in from the weekend warriors.

Hot spots for today: For smallies, I'd hit the rocky points around the islands near Burlington. Work those Ned rigs and jerkbaits slowly in that 8-15 foot range. For largemouth, head down to Ti Bay and throw those spinnerbaits along weed edges. Lake trout enthusiasts should head toward Plattsburgh and target deeper structure with soft plastics.

Remember folks, light line and slow presentations are still producing best as we're not quite into full summer patterns yet. Water clarity remains excellent at 6-12 feet visibility across most of the lake[3].

That's all for today's report. Get out there, stay safe, and as we say around here - we're on 'em!