Lake Champlain Winter Fishing: Targeting Smallies, Largemouth, and More in Early Season Conditions

Artificial Lure here with your Lake Champlain fishing rundown, coming at you like a cold north wind off the broad lake.

Up and down Champlain, we’re in classic early winter mode. Night temps have the surface cooling hard, so expect sluggish fish tight to structure and edges, with the best bites stacked around the warmest part of the afternoon and the low‑light windows at first light and dusk. Sunrise and sunset are close together now, so that prime-time window is short but sweet, and you’ll want to be in position, not running, when that light changes.

Tides aren’t a factor here the way they are on the coast; Champlain’s level is driven by wind and river flow, so pay more attention to wind direction than any tide chart. A steady north or northwest breeze will push bait and warmer surface water down toward places like Converse Bay and the inland sea cuts, while a south wind tends to load up the north-end rock and sand transitions. Any shoreline with wind blowing in and a little stain is worth an extra pass.

Recent reports from locals and visiting tournament sticks have been all about mixed bags: brown bass, green bass, and some bonus pike and lake trout out deeper. Smallmouth are still showing on mid-depth rock humps and points, often in 20–35 feet, with groups of fish holding tight to boulders and drops. Largemouth are being picked off in remaining green weedbeds and around docks in the more sheltered bays, along with a few chunky fish pulled from steep rock-and-weed edges where the grass dies off into hard bottom.

For hardware, think small and natural. A 3–3.3 inch paddletail swimbait on a light jighead, fished slowly along bottom, has been a steady producer for quality smallmouth. Finesse techniques are shining: drop-shots with baitfish-colored plastics, Ned rigs in green pumpkin or brown, and compact football jigs dragged painstakingly slow over rock piles. For largemouth, downsized jigs with craw trailers, suspending jerkbaits worked with long pauses, and even subtle blade baits yo-yoed off bottom are putting fish in the boat. If you’re soaking live bait, medium shiners for bass and pike, and small fathead minnows for panfish, under a slip float or on a light bottom rig, are your best bets.

A couple of hot spots to circle on the map:
- The Champlain Bridge/Crown Point area, where the current through the narrows stacks bait and both smallmouth and crappie around bridge pilings and nearby rock and rubble.
- The Inland Sea and the openings around North Hero and South Hero, where deep rock, remaining weeds, and current seams from the passes can concentrate wintering smallmouth, pike, and the occasional lake trout.

Overall activity is subdued but steady: fewer bites, more quality. If you’re patient, fish slow, and stay on that rock-and-weed mix or classic winter humps, you can put together a nice board with a handful of solid bronzebacks, some keeper largemouth, and a bonus toothy critter or two. Dress warm, watch the wind, and keep an eye out for icing ramps on the Vermont and New York sides as the day wears on.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI