Hi John – I haven’t been on here in awhile. What part of Champlain are you planning to fish? Champlain is my home waters (have a camp south lake at Buoy 39 across from Fort Ticonderoga) and I’ll be glad to help if I can. Regarding colors – Lake keeps valley warmer then outlining areas so colors on ride in early to mid October can be beautiful while trees closer to the lake are still mostly green. Late October the colors on the lake usually come on strong. Fishing can be all over the place south lake. I haven’t been up in a week or so (heading up tomorrow) but fishing was tough last few weeks but friends tell me it’s starting to improve. Mid to late October into November can be awesome south lake. North and mid lake small mouth fishing turns on probably late September/early October and continues into November (BTW – we have our share of nice small mouth south lake too. You haven’t lived until you hook up with a 4lb smallie in a foot of water!). Everything depends on weather of course. The sooner it’s starts to get cold the hotter the fishing will be. Temps right now are running mid to high 70’s during the day, 50’s to mid 40’s at night (warmer around lake) but we are sure to get at least one more heat wave. We usually do. I can PM you a email address and if you want to contact me, I can give you updates as the season progresses. I’m retired so I plan to be up there as much as possible the next 8-10 weeks. Will provide updates upon request.
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