To All Bass Fishing Enthusiasts

Advanced Bassin’ Plus would like to welcome you to a world of action an excitement. Although the Bass season in Quebec only begins in June, there is plenty of spectacular bass fishing to be had in May.

Northern Vermont waters like Lake Memphremagog and Lake Champlain have a special « Catch & Release » season that can jump-start anyone’s engine after the long months of winter. Numbers of Bass caught will frequently exceed 100 fish days. Many of these trophies caught will be in the four to five pound range!

Plenty of choice dates are still available for this spectacular « Pre Spawn » experience. If action and excitement are what you are after, this « Smallmouth » fishing should be experienced. You won’t believe it!

Visit the « Advanced Bassin’ Plus » website at <A HREF= »http://pages.infinit.net/mjcbass » TARGET=_blank>http://pages.infinit.net/mjcbass</A> for a complete profile of everything we have to offer.

Stay tuned for a follow up report on this amazing, early season fishing, to come soon.

Tight Lines to All

Mark Currie

Advanced Bassin’ Plus

A Lake Memphremagog Marriage (Written by: Mark Currie 05/22/01)<P>This past weekend was our first 3 day long weekend, and my wedding anniversary as well. What a better way to kick off the fishing season than to spend it on a beautiful Vermont Lake, catching Smallmouth Bass by the hundreds. A tradition was started some ten years or so ago and if it ever changed, a divorce would be in order. My wife would be the one filing for it however, because she is the one that insists on going year after year. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

Lake Memphremagog is a spectacular body of water that covers some 28 miles or so, in length. It begins at the Canadian end of Magog, Quebec and stretches all the way to the U.S. end of Newport, Vermont. It’s beautiful scenery is only matched by the phenomenal fishing that it yields each spring as the smallmouth bass begin their annual migration from the deep water to the shallows, where they will eventually spawn. If you time it just right, you can intercept them on the main lake points, and offshore humps & rockpiles. Targeting them in the shallows as they spawn is not recommended and can be detrimental to the future years of fishing.

The first morning began damp and miserable, until a three and a half pound bronze beauty stopped the suspending jerkbait I was throwing. You would be amazed how tough these smallies are and how hard they fight in water barely above 50 degrees. All of a sudden the weather didn’t matter as we were into the first of many fish of the season and they were beauties. We continued to boat bass in the three to four pound range for the next hour or so until the bite slowed down. Knowing that there were plenty more fish roaming the edges of the bay, just waiting for the water temperature to rise, we opted to relocate. Memphremagog is renowned for the numerous offshore shoals and structures, and quite often at this time of year, many bass are found staging on them. Out to open water we went, and my wife Christiane was into a fish on her first cast over the rock shoal. We concentrated on the deepest sides of the structure, as the fattest females were positioned there ambushing anything that came their way. A Herb Reed’s Finesse bait fished on eight-pound Berkley Trilene XL line fooled the four-pound bass into striking this lifelike imitation of the ever-present Smelt that inhabit the lake. The visibility of the water was amazingly clear as I sighted several more buddies swimming alongside her during the battle. We continued to boat many more fish of equal size on Jerkbaits, Jigs and 4 inch Berkley Power Slugs, until they slowed down, once again.

After a quick lunch on the boat, I thought I would try some shoreline fishing outside the main bays of the Vermont end of the Lake. The thought proved to be the right move and we began to catch more bass along the thirty-foot edge of a cliff like shoreline on Rogues and other Suspending Jerkbaits. By covering the water with these lures, you never know what you might catch as the line snaps tight, and the fish nearly jerk the rod from your hands. Along with the bass, we caught many huge perch, a couple of Lake Trout, a Brook Trout and a fair Sized Rainbow Trout of about four pounds. We also had quite a few follow-ups by other Trout, and one laker that must have gone over ten pounds. Over fifty bass were caught from various locations on the lake in search of the really big ones. All the fish caught, including the trout, were released unharmed as we were only here for the pleasure and thrill of the fight, not the consumption of the fish. The least we could do on our anniversary is dine out!

Day two proved to be an even better day than day one, if you could believe that! The weather turned for the better, and gave us sunny skies all day, with a high of about 75 degrees and variable winds. I thought we would try some other points with deep edges and huge boulders, to see if we could catch a real big one, but we only managed to scratch up another dozen or so two to three and a half pound males, and decided to move. Too much water, too little time! Off to the large flat offshore that has yielded many a five pound bass in the past years, and slam! First cast along the deep edge, and Christiane is into a four and a half pound bronze beauty. This fish is so powerful, that she starts to complain of sore wrists from holding the five and a half foot Fenwick rod that I gave her for a birthday present the year before. With the water being as cold as it was, we didn’t see many fish jump, and this one was no exception. She bulldogged down and almost overpowered my wife until she managed to get a lip on the pre spawn beauty. This one’s a photo fish I told her and snapped off a shot with the digital camera. Once released we continued to boat many more on different baits, but the best seemed to be the Finesse, on a 1/8 ounce ballhead jig. All the big, sluggish females seemed to come from that bait worked slowly along the deeper edges in twenty feet of water. I managed to catch several smaller fish on top of the flat with a suspending jerkbait in a silver/blue finish, and even another Lake Trout, but nothing of any size. Changing to another rod rigged with finesse, I joined my wife in boating over twenty more big fish in about three and a half hours. Slower fishing definitely had a hand in catching all the big fish. Size and numbers can be caught if you just keep an open mind and let the fish dictate what they want. By covering lots of water along the shores of the lake, we managed to catch plenty of fish, but only a few really big ones, however, by concentrating on the deep edges of the spawning flats that they use every year, we caught only the big females feeding on the smelt. With growling stomachs from skipping breakfast, we thought we deserved a lunch break seeing as how it was after 12:00. We had both worked up quite an appetite from battling those fish all morning, and broke out the food and relaxed for a little while just enjoying the day.

After lunch we thought we’d try a few other locations with similar features. As a tournament fisherman, an important key element is patterns. Once you pattern the fish on a body of water, you can usually duplicate this in other locations on the lake at the same time. The next place proved to be no different, with Christiane hammering the first fish on the same Finesse bait in 18 feet of water, right on the lip of the break. Scattered boulders were amongst the shale and rubble that composed the bottom content we were on, and so were the fish. They were thicker than thieves and as hungry as a bear. We doubled up many times with the average fish weighing about three pounds, but many of them going over four. After about two hours of boating over 25 fish, we ran to another offshore structure and did it all over again. What a day! We probably caught close to a hundred fish between us, and many of them trophies by most standards.

Day three was going to be a short one with us leaving by noon, so we tried to get on the water before 7:00 due to the condensation and fog that regularly appears in the morning mountain air. We wasted no time by running to another offshore rock pile that we hadn’t yet fished, in anticipation that it would produce as well as the others, the days before. It wasn’t long before we were answered with double fours. A beautiful pair of bronze beauties, once again. Both females, and both ready to explode by the looks of it. This lake, even during the summer months has a tendency of producing spawning like bass. They feast on the smelt and look pregnant because of it. We call them footballs. Footballs they were, with both of them regurgitating smelt during the battle to the boat, only to be eaten by the others that followed them. Two beauties and one photo for Christiane to remember of our sixteenth anniversary and how we spent it. The family think we’re nuts, and all my friends are sick with envy. Gotta love it!

Even a fellow fishing friend there at the same time commented to her, and I quote, « You’re a Saint ». How true they are!

We milked this spot for all it was worth, and changed baits several times to provoke and entice more strikes from the others that were reluctant to hit after seeing so many of their buddies go topside. We probably caught close to, if not more than fifty bass again in only a few short hours. Jerkbaits, finesse baits, or power slugs will take these prespawn bass when the conditions are right. Water temperature will dictate where they will be and at what stage they are in if you know where to look for them at this time of year. We targeted the offshore structures and deeper shoreline where we found temperatures between 50 and 55 degrees. It should be a few more weeks before the bass really get into the full spawn mode, by the looks of the temperatures, but you can still find prespawn fish in other parts of the lake if you know where to look for the cooler water.

Some would think that they died and went to heaven, but not us. Just another anniversary where the Bass Gods from above bless us for all the little things we do right during the year.

Vermont has a special « Catch and Release » season that begins April 14th, and ends June 8th. Their regular season starts on the following day, June 9th and ends on November 30th. Remember to practice catch and release whenever possible, not just during the posted season. These fish are special, and should be treated as such.

Welcome to this year’s fishing!

Norm & I hit the water early this morning, hoping to monopolize on every minute of daylight. Today was going to be a winner and we didn’t want to miss it! As with most trips, his faithful companion Buddha tagged along as well. I don’t think Norm would have made it out of his house alone, when the dog saw him carrying his rods. Buddha has grown to love the boat and really doesn’t like it when Norm travels solo, making it impossible for him to sneak out undetected. The sun was just starting to rise above the overnight clouds when we launched and the water was flat calm. Forecasts called for sun, no wind and temps in the upper 50’s. Who could ask for more! The first area began producing almost immediately as Norm locked up on one of many of the 3.5 pound clones we would encounter throughout the day. A slow presentation was the ticket with the 43 degree water we were faced with and the bites were subtle. So subtle that some of the fish were dropping the baits even before we had a chance to set the hook. It would take a few hours with the sun up to activate them and I knew we would have to fish slowly before the aggression set in. This was one of those days that everyone was also taking advantage of as there were plenty of boats on the water. I guess a lot of people called in sick today! As with most days out, I have to be cautious when fishing around other boats as they seem to like the same areas, apparently! We continued to hit several current breaks and with the fallen water from the last couple of days, fish positioning had changed. If you could read the water correctly, you would succeed. If not, there would be less fish caught as they had repositioned into the softer water once again. We really never went long between bites and had plenty of action throughout the day. Enough action that is to keep the “Buddha Bear” alert and on his feet all day! I’d love to have a video of him when someone hooks up as he gets just as excited. Let’s just say that he sleeps well after a day on the water! The action finally picked up shortly after mid day and for a while it seemed like every fish was willing to eat our offerings. Many quality sized bass were coming aboard and Buddha loved the release. We had to toss them a little further each time as he wanted to kiss every one! Several times we found him just licking the net after! Late in the afternoon, on this incredible November day, we decided to call it quits. We had milked every minute of daylight and the sun was starting to set when we packed it in and headed back to the ramp. I’d have to say that today was probably the nicest one by far this fall and I pray for many more just like it. What a perfect end to an equally perfect day!!

Well, after yesterday’s incredible winds I knew I would have to adjust today with pretty much the same conditions forecasted. Scott, Mike & Chris joined me but this time we fished a smaller lake hoping not to get crushed again. We arrived around 8:30 under much cooler temps of 52 degrees and overcast skies but the winds were a lot less in strength. They never really got any stronger than about 10 to 15 knots and the cooler air only topped out at 55 degrees. Within a few minutes of arrival we were fishing and Scott wasted no time locating the first bass on a jerkbait. A smaller fish of about 2.5 pounds came to the boat and he was on the board! Both Chris & Mike were throwing jigs in anticipation of one of their own as we covered water still searching for bigger & better. Scott managed to get hold of a second fish slightly over 3 pounds on the jerkbait once more along the bank we were covering and I knew it was just a matter of time before the others would be into some of their own. We shifted areas and I decided to hit a deeper water hump off shore and on Chris’s first cast with the jig, he was locked! This was definitely a better fish and the net came out to ensure its arrival into the livewell. A four pounder was now swimming in the tank as Mike almost added to the board one of his as well. Unfortunately, it came unpinned but Chris recovered for him with another of similar size and I knew there were more. It bounced back & forth between both Scott & Chris but Mike still needed to land one of his in order to fully eliminate the skunk he was carrying. As the person with the least experience of the three, I had mentioned that by days end he would have the largest fish of the group. It always happens that way! Mike finally hooked up on the next spot and ironically, he got the only three fish from there too. From that point on, it was one here and one there with a few bite offs from the Musky. Throughout the day we picked at them and eventually decided to try trolling for Musky for a little while. Unfortunately, the area I wanted to fish had a water ski course set up right in the zone where the fish live. Although it was a little difficult, I somehow managed to keep clear of their ropes and floats and actually had a 4 foot rip on one of the rods almost immediately. Damn drive-byes, I hate them! I decided to try casting the area instead and followed the bank carefully, looking for another fish as Scott casted the big plug in anticipation. Unfortunately, it was not to happen and after 15 minutes of throwing the chunk of lumber, he was done. I figured we would complete the pass before trying trolling once more and hooked up on about the tenth cast. Although the musky wasn’t a giant, they at least got to see what they looked like on this lake. The 30 incher was released immediately! Idiots come in all shapes and forms and we were about to see a new style as a ski boat decided to remove the markers that were blocking our trolling pass. Unfortunately, they just cut the balloons from the ropes and left the lines in the water. Imagine that! Well, we had the biggest rip I have ever had while trolling after and I wasn’t surprised to see it was a rope line. What a bunch of morons! I had a hard time retrieving the lure from the line and once I did, we were out of there. With the day closing in on an end I decided to try one of the areas we had hit earlier in the day and was glad we did. Chris locked up with a nice fish almost immediately when we found the deep rocks. After that one, Mike & I doubled and both were on the large size. I had Scott net Mikes and immediately after, mine. The net bowl looked awesome as two over 5 pounds were laying side by side in the rubber mesh. Right down to the wire and Mike had finally come through with the largest bass of the day. It was also his personal best and deserved a couple of good pics for the memory. We decided to call it a day after the next spot and hooking into nothing. All the fish were in the livewell and were released after a quick photo shoot before we were on our way. This move away from the city and hurricane like winds was obviously the right choice as we managed to scratch out some real beauties on the remote northern lake. I think everyone will remember this day and especially Mike as he remains on the top at least until their next outing!!