[Justin]

Went up to Champlain this past weekend for the NEBA of CT tournament and was a little disappointed and frustrated with the condition of the lake and stage the fish were in.

First of all, the lake is almost completely different from last year with regards to the vegetation (condition of it and location of where it was in past years). Many of the places I fished (in the southern end of the lake from Ti south) had patchy weeds instead of a nice, thick, defined area. A lot of the milfoil is slimed over already, but there are not as many thick sloppy pads as last year or years past. Many of the fish we found and caught were post spawn still guarding fry and had tons of sores all over their bodies. I thought I saw a couple of somewhat fresh beds in amongst the weeds, but the water was stained in that area so I couldn't tell. Others said they actually saw some fish on beds, and I certainly wouldn't doubt it.

Throwing a frog, it was almost like they were playing tag with it...they'd come poke their head out of the slop, tap the bait and then take off...very few hit it like they were in feeding mode. The weights from everyone were down compared to years past, although some still caught a good fish here and there, nothing with the consistency the lake is known for.

Saturday, we launched from Port Henry and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, only to run south of Crown Point Bridge and hit a wall of fog. It was so thick that it was affecting the GPS...the map would spin around and say I was heading the opposite direction I really was. For those without GPS, they ended up just fishing in the first spot they came to. I almost hit a boat crossing over to Ti launch as I saw the boat wake and then the boat. Only running about 30 mph, it was pretty easy to avoid, but when one of the pros in a Toyota wrap boat (no it was not Ike, but he was up there) came out of the fog heading straight at me, it was a little unnerving and frankly, almost made me crap my pants.

Of course the wind picked up on Sunday and made it extremely difficult to fish considering I had no use of my trolling motor for the first 4 hours of the day...the prop got wedged in the head and would not spin...so we couldn't fish our spots correctly, or even at all.

All in all, it just proves that this year is a very weird scenario being played out.

[Keith T]

Do you know who won it? Or when the results will be posted?
_________________
Pads is there anywhere more fun to fish?

[Justin]

The championship was won by Tomasini and Tomasini with I believe around 26 pounds. French and Hornacek won the regular season tourney with arond 24 pounds. The results should be up shortly on the website if they aren't already.

[Keith T]

Thanks Buddy
_________________
Pads is there anywhere more fun to fish?