By Shawn Hayes, Fishing Fanatic
What?
There are several species of fish that spawn in the spring on Lake Champlain and others just seek out that warmer bait rich water.
Crappies, Bass, Pike, Bluegills, White Perch, Catfish and Gar are just a few of the species you can expect to catch while bank fishing.
Where?
Where to start? Some of the better spring shoreline fishing spots are outlets, rip rap, bridges, points and inlets. Another overlooked spot is culverts. We have spent many a day just fishing all the culverts from Crown Point Bridge all the way south to Benson Landing.
How?
When shore fishing we really try to keep are gear very light, mobile and diverse. And I am not just talking about the actual weight of your gear but the type of gear. With the majority of the bait in these areas being on the smaller side it will serve an angler well to downsize tackle and presentations.
The ability to start, stop and move to the next spot quickly will help you cover more water and in turn catch more fish. This is not your sedentary cast and wait type fishing. Being able to make several dozen cast with several different baits and covering the entire water column and area is important.
Some of the gear we always have on hand are floats, 1/8th, 1/16th and 1/32 ounce jigs, in-line spinners and small floating and suspending stick baits and an assortment of small and even micro plastics. 1â 1/2 to 2â tube jigs can be fantastic this time of year for everything that swims. Another overlooked bait is those ice fishing jigs everyone tends to put away until next season. Donât do it!
For a rod and reel setup we mostly use 7 to 9-foot light or Ultra-light rods and spinning reels spooled with four to six
The XT offers a little more insurance when you hook into one of the many big predators that frequent these areas in the spring.
Live Bait
When the fishing gets tough or slows down we always have some night crawlers, maggots and some fat head minnows with us. Just a dot of night crawler on a tiny ice fishing jig has caught many a 4lb Bass this time of year.
While I love my boat and the majority of our fishing is done there. Bank fishing in the spring can be just as or more productive on most spring days. Many times, we can access areas where boats just plain cannot get to. With a little studying and paying a little more attention to the small stuff. You too can turn shore fishing into a pretty sure thing!
