LaBelle lands Day 1 lead on Champlain with 22-3
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Entering the second Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division event of the year, angler chatter suggested that the bite on Lake Champlain might be a bit tough. Vermont native Bryan LaBelle said the legendary lake’s bass, particularly the smallmouth, didn’t seem to be biting with their usual vigor during practice – and that was before the remnants of tropical storm Beryl dumped rain on the area, raising the lake level by more than 6 inches.
Yet, as it always seems to do, Champlain showed out. Twenty-eight of the 171 boaters in the field topped 20 pounds on Day 1, with both smallmouth and largemouth well represented. It took 20 pounds, 13 ounces to crack the Top 10.
Leading the charge is LaBelle, who sacked up 22-3 of green bass. Looking to add to his impressive hardware collection on his home lake, LaBelle leads Drew Gill and Ben McCann by 11 ounces. But, with 23 anglers within 2 pounds of the lead, the race remains wide open.
In the Strike King co-angler competition, Jade Keeton grabbed the lead with 19-10. He’s 12 ounces ahead of Melvin Smitson, while three other anglers lurk within 3 ounces of Smitson.
Plan B produces for LaBelle
It’s no surprise to see LaBelle’s name atop the leaderboard. He’s won a Phoenix Bass Fishing League event, a Toyota Series event and a Bassmaster Open on Champlain in recent years. But LaBelle surprised himself with how his opening day unfolded.
LaBelle devoted the majority of his practice to the technique that has dominated on Champlain in recent years – using forward-facing sonar to chase smallmouth roaming offshore. He planned to start Day 1 on a largemouth spot that he hoped could produce one kicker then spend the rest of his day ‘Scoping for smallmouth.
LaBelle’s starting spot, which he described as a boulder on a big grass flat, produced better than he expected with three big bites. He then started panning for smallmouth chasing bait but struggled to get the fish he saw to bite.
So, after about two hours, LaBelle pulled the plug. Leaning on his encyclopedic knowledge of the fishery, he made a long run north and added two more quality largemouth to his livewell.
“They were down in the water column, a lot of the bass were, and it didn’t seem like they really wanted to play too good,” LaBelle said of the smallmouth. “So, I went back and fished largemouth after about two hours of doing ‘Scoping and ultimately ended up catching two more.”
As strong as LaBelle’s start was, he doesn’t plan to target largemouth on Day 2. He believes the overcast, rainy weather Thursday hurt the smallmouth bite. With more benign conditions forecast Friday and Saturday, he said he plans to spend 90% of his time targeting smallmouth.
“I didn’t spend much time in practice on largemouth, mostly because I feel like the smallmouth are going to dominate,” he said. “They’re so big. What I did in practice with LiveScoping, a lot of the fish were 4-plus pounds, so I felt like that was the deal. Pretty sure I’m going to spend 90% of my day ‘Scoping tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a lot better day to ‘Scope.”
While LaBelle knows as well as anyone what Champlain is capable of producing, he admitted he didn’t expect to see so many 20-pound bags hit the scales on Day 1. Backing it up with another limit of 20-plus will be key to anglers separating themselves from the pack.
“I didn’t feel like there was tons of fish really biting,” LaBelle said. “It seemed like there was a lot of fish that don’t seem real interested in the offerings. But it did seem like when you got bit, there was a lot of high-quality fish. So, I expected the bags to be big, I just didn’t expect there would probably be as many.”
Top 10 pros:
1. Bryan LaBelle — 22-3 (5)
2. Drew Gill — 21-8 (5)
2. Ben McCann — 21-8 (5)
4. Jimmy Neece Jr. — 21-1 (5)
5. Jeremy Gordon — 21-0 (5)
6. Spike Stoker — 20-15 (5)
6. Stephen Draghi — 20-15 (5)
6. James Sweeney — 20-15 (5)
9. Michael Garone — 20-14 (5)
10. Marshall Robinson — 20-13 (5)