Lake Champlain Fishing Report: Summer Bite Heats Up on Smallies, Lakers, and Panfish

Good morning anglers, Artificial Lure here with your Lake Champlain fishing report for Wednesday, June 11th, 2025. We’ve got the sun rising at 5:13 AM and it’ll set tonight at 8:37 PM. The lake greeted us with partly cloudy skies, a high near 69 degrees, and light northwest winds—a real treat for June fishing on the border of Vermont and New York.

Water temps across the Main Lake are climbing into the upper 60s, and you can feel the transition into early summer. The bass bite is prime right now: smallmouth are post-spawn but still hanging tight to shorelines and rocky points, especially in 3 to 6 feet of water. In the central and northern stretches, several locals reported easy limits of 3 to 4-pound smallies this week, with a handful of five-pound slabs in the mix. The top producers have been tube jigs in green pumpkin and drop shot rigs with 4-inch finesse worms. PXR Mavrik 110 Jerkbaits in Metallic Yellow Perch have also been money for cruising fish, especially mid-morning.

Largemouth action is picking up strong in the southern part of the lake and anywhere you find healthy weed beds. St. Albans Bay and the Inland Sea are producing chunky largemouth on Texas-rigged creature baits and topwater frogs just after sunrise. One impressive 7.5-pounder was landed near St. Albans earlier this week on a white spinnerbait worked along the weed edge.

Lake trout fans are finding steady action, especially between Westport and Cumberland Head and the deeper Main Lake Basin off Burlington. You’ll want to be running spoons and stickbaits 80 to 100 feet down, targeting humps and drop-offs. The increase in wild laker numbers is noticeable; several boats reported double-digit catches per trip, including a few over 8 pounds, with fewer lamprey wounds compared to prior seasons.

Panfish remain active in the shallows. Bulwagga Bay and Missisquoi Bay continue to crank out nice crappie and bluegill hauls on small jigs tipped with worms.

For the best chance at a big day, here are a couple of hot spots:
- The rocky shorelines and drop-offs around Valcour Island and Willsboro Bay for smallmouth.
- Deep water off Burlington Ledges for lake trout.
- Weed beds in St. Albans Bay and the Inland Sea for largemouth.

Top lures and bait this week: green pumpkin tube jigs and Senko worms for bass, white spinnerbaits for big largemouth, spoons for lakers, and small jigs with worms for panfish.

That’s the latest from Lake Champlain—tight lines to all. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for tomorrow’s report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.