Conditions

Air Temp:  75 deg F 

Water Temp:  70 deg F

Wind:  S 5-10 mph

Sun:  Mostly Clear Skies

Winning Pattern

Power fishing shallow for smallies

There are a lot of ways to catch fish at Lake Champlain, but certain techniques usually dominate the tournament scene.  Scoping smallies and/or punching heavy cover for largemouth have typically won recent derbies.  But, with over 200 other tournament bass boats on the water during the weekend, Bill Barret chose to do something a little different and a little old-school to separate himself from the crowd.

Barrett returned to his roots and power-fished for shallow smallmouth.  Throwing moving baits in 3-6 ft of water, Bill was getting bit as soon as the bait hit the water.  If he didn't get bit, it was reel in as fast as possible and cast again.  Despite wearing out his shoulders during the course of the day, Barrett kept at it and landed 16.38 lbs of Champlain bass including a 3.79 lb smallie kicker.  Given that he was fishing shallow, he did manage to trick one largemouth into biting which helped to round out his bag.  With all of the tournament traffic on the lake, Barrett's 16.38 lbs was more than enough to seal the deal and take home the first place trophy!  Congrats to Bill Barrett for his second win of the 2026 season!