Latinville bags 21-3 for Champlain lead, five locals inside the Top 10 on Day 1
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Day 1 of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats event on Lake Champlain was a certified catchfest, with 94 pros bagging 17 pounds or better. Leading the way, Ryan Latinville hammered out 21 pounds, 3 ounces to edge ahead of Jamey Caldwell and Bryan LaBelle, who caught 20-14 and 20-12 respectively.
Among the Top 10 or so, almost everyone is relying on bedding smallmouth for the bulk of their weight, but there are some interesting possibilities in play in the days ahead. For one, postspawn smallmouth entered the event as something of a threat, and a few pros made good on that, Tyler Woolcott (19-8) and Drew Gill (19-6) being the most notable. There’s also the question of largemouth – very few came to the scale on Day 1, but both LaBelle and Chris Adams caught a kicker green fish that boosted their total weight.
All in all, it looks like the Northern Division Presented by Rabid Baits is off to a rollicking start.
Latinville has a perfect day
The ultimate goal in any smallmouth spawn tournament is not to waste bass and not to have fish ghost you, either from angler effort or nature taking her course. Latinville is unquestionably one of the best on the lake during the smallmouth spawn, and he had it all go right on Day 1.
“Today was nuts,” Latinville said. “I was boat 212, I was more than discouraged with that draw, because I knew it would be a bed derby for the most part. I thought I was screwed out of two of them. I start on a fish that was the most easy fish to see of all-time. She’s there, 4.58, just looking at me in 5 feet of water. Are you kidding me?”
Sometimes things just work out.
“After losing sleep like crazy last night, after catching that fish, I knew it would be a good day,” he said. “I ran around, far north, and it just came together. I had all my fish by 7:15.”
Latinville and his cousin Brett Carnright are terrors on Champlain during the spawn, and it’s looking like another good week for both of them.
“I’ve been out here a long time, practicing my butt off,” Latinville said. “My cousin Brett and I have been practicing like crazy. I’ve got another good bag in the tank if nobody picked them, it won’t be like this, this is extraordinary. But, I think I can do close to 19 or 20. Then, Day 3 would be a little tougher, but possibly 18 1/2 or 19. I found a few today that I didn’t catch, there were a lot of boats around me. My goal today, after I caught my fish, was to practice. I found three today that I think might be crucial, two that I think are big, and one that is just out there, I don’t know.”
For his part, Latinville came in planning on only smallmouth, and he hopes that he can finish out with them. Potentially copying the perfect 15 smallmouth for 60 pounds that Ron Nelson put up to win in 2018.
“I wanted to dial in on smallmouth in this event, because it suits my style,” Latinville said. “We excel at this, we work our butts off at this. I put everything into the smallmouth this week, it doesn’t mean I won’t try to catch a largemouth, but things would have to be going really bad. I just know if I grind hard enough I can find another big one.”
Spawning smallies no problem for Caldwell
Half of the Top 10 are locals to Champlain, experts at all seasons and many particularly skilled during the spawn. Caldwell on the other hand, has never fished Champlain during the spawn – but that didn’t stop him from putting up a big bag.
“I was mostly bed fishing,” Caldwell said. “I spent three days just looking for beds, and looking for the right ones, doing something a little bit different I think than everybody else. This afternoon, I started trying to do some postspawn stuff, and that was panning out, but hopefully, the size gets better – I didn’t make any culls.”
From the sounds of it, Caldwell should be in good shape to make the weekend, despite his lack of experience.
“I’ve actually never fished for spawning smallmouth before, this is the earliest I’ve been up here,” he said. “I think I’ve got enough fish tomorrow for at least an 18-pound bag. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
LaBelle lurks ounces off the lead
Pre-tournament chatter out LaBelle as one to watch this week, which to be fair, is always the case on Champlain. Still, he did some impressive things in early August in 2022 and he’s just ounces off the lead on Day 1.
“I was bed fishing like everybody else,” LaBelle said. “Then, I ended up with 20 pounds and a few ounces and decided to go fish largemouth and leave the rest of the fish, and I got one. It’s hard to come across a good largemouth – seems it anyway.”
LaBelle is noted as one of the best largemouth anglers on the lake, probably the best, and says the lake isn’t warm enough for the bite to be popping.
“Water temperature is the big thing; it’s colder than what a lot of guys think down deep,” he said. “I think that’s what held them back a bit. They’re hard to get when they’re off the bank – there are a lot of largemouth in 18 or 20 feet, but no size that I can get. They just don’t come up until the water temp’s right – not the good ones.”
Still, largemouth aside, LaBelle sounds ready to contend for another day.
“Tomorrow I can do high 19, maybe 20,” he said. “If they’re there – I didn’t go anywhere near my other fish. We’ll see, I’ve got two days worth, where I can be competitive, after that, I’m going to have to mix it up.”
For his part, LaBelle isn’t sold on a smallmouth-only strategy, as he thinks the odds of finding more 4-pounders later in the event are a bit slim.
“There are fresh fish coming, but I don’t think there are a lot of them,” he said. “I think there are just a handful. The fresh ones, lately, they seem to be just hanging out, they’re not really sure yet. Like they’re not sure about going and making a bed. I’m not sure if you can really continue this.”
Top 10 pros
1. Ryan Latinville – 21 – 3 (5)
2. Jamey Caldwell – 20 – 14 (5)
3. Bryan LaBelle – 20 – 12 (5)
4. Shayne McFarlin – 20 – 5 (5)
5. Andrew Bechard – 20 – 3 (5)
6. Brett Carnright – 20 – 1 (5)
7. Erik Luzak – 19 – 13 (5)
8. Chris Adams – 19 – 12 (5)
9. Gary Miller – 19 – 12 (5)
10. Bailey Bleser – 19 – 10 (5)