The only truly Northern event of the season, the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech finishes off the regular-season at Lake Champlain, a bass angler’s paradise. Slap loaded with largemouth and smallmouth, Champlain is a bucket-list fishery for a lot of people and one of the gems of the schedule.
Surrounded by the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains, Champlain offers stellar fishing and great scenery, but in this event, that will not be the focus. As the last event of the season, 7 Brew Angler of the Year will be decided, five pros will qualify for the Bass Pro Tour, and the Top 40 will lock in their spot in the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship. All those points considerations mean that every ounce counts, and there are not many lakes where the ounces count more than Champlain.
Last time
The Tackle Warehouse Invitationals visited Champlain in June of 2024, and Jacob Walker won on a minnow, with most of the Top 10 also minnowing up smallmouth. Typically, June on Champlain would feature a big-time spawning smallmouth event, but that was not the case then. Notably, Kurt Mitchell and Hunter Eubanks both made the Top 10 with shallow, northern largemouth patterns.
In July of 2024, Kyle Cortiana won the Toyota Series event at Champlain with a 64-1 total and he did it mostly fishing current at the Malletts Bay causeway. Big rains during practice dramatically affected the event, scattering some smallmouth in the Inland Sea and creating an incredible current bite. Notably, Mitchell again made a Top 10 with northern largemouth, this time joined by Bryan LaBelle and Tom Lavictoire Jr.
In 2025, the Toyota Series event on Champlain fell in June, and Tucker Smith won it with a minnow and smallmouth. At this point, you should notice a trend.
But, there are some recent exceptions to the trend of minnow and smallmouth domination.
In 2024, Ed Loughran won the Bassmaster Elite Series event in August on Champlain – after a summer of minnow madness, the veteran pro bucked the trend. Running south for mid-lake largemouth, he fished shallow and edged ahead of the pack. Also, as a general rule of thumb, local events on Champlain have featured a lot of largemouth lately – maybe easier to do in one-day events, but also a sign of a burgeoning population.
What to expect this time
The 2024 Angler of the Year and Rookie of the Year on the Invitationals and a Champlain ace, Alec Morrison expects an excellent tournament.
“The No. 1 thing is going to be postspawn smallmouth,” Morrison said. “I’m sure a lot of them will be hanging around grass and mid-range, and primarily chasing bait by the end of July.”
In a tournament without restrictions on sonar use, a standard game plan on Champlain might be to spend the entire day targeting roaming smallmouth. But Morrison isn’t sure that is viable without forward-facing sonar.
“Three hours is a decent amount of time to get them to bite,” he said. “But, I really do feel like that is something you can’t really target without forward-facing. The ones on grass and rock, more midrange or shallower, those might be the ones to target during the off time.”
The other player is largemouth, and Morrison expects at least two pros to make the Top 10 from Ticonderoga, and perhaps others to do it with northern largemouth.
“I’m sure largemouth are going to play,” Morrison said. “A lot of it depends on our water levels. Generally, in low water years, the largemouth fishing is a little tougher. The more water, the better the largemouth fishing will be.”
Headlines to watch for
Obviously, the fishing will be awesome, but this event will also feature high strategy, points battles, and some big winners.
- Watch the standings – The final event of the season will settle a lot – every ounce will matter, and weights are usually very tight on Champlain.
- Eye up the weather – Champlain is a big lake, and cancelled days are not uncommon. Plus, for folks making long runs or planning to fish in exposed areas, the weather is doubly important. In this one, having a good contingency plan could save a pro’s season.
- To ‘Scope or not – The importance of forward-facing sonar in a modern game plan on Champlain cannot be overstated – only a handful of anglers consistently excel without it. But three hours can go fast, and there are plenty of other ways to catch fish. Tuning in to MLFNOW! will certainly produce some electrifying smallmouth fishing, but there’s a chance the whole range of Champlain possibilities shines like never before.
Follow along
You can follow the action at Stop 6 on Lake Champlain during all three days of competition, July 24-26, on MLFNOW! and stay locked to MajorLeagueFishing.com for on-the-water galleries, daily stories and more.