Share your catch
US

Lake Champlain Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The sixth Great Lake: 120 miles of bays and islands where bass tournaments meet salmon streams.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Lake level
94.09 ft
Air / High
51 / 52 F
Wind
N 9 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 04294500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Lake Champlain feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The gauge reads 94.09 ft, up 0.10 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind N around 9 mph, rising pressure near 1030 hPa and a high of 52. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:26 AM-11:26 AM and 9:56 PM-11:56 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Tomorrow: Similar at 55 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Vermont requires a fishing licence from age 15, from $28.00 for residents. What a Vermont licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with VTFW before you keep anything. The season dates for Vermont, read off the agency, are on the Vermont seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from LAKE CHAMPLAIN AT BURLINGTON, VT.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 04294500.

93.6993.8994.0994.09 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp51 F
High / Low52 / 36 F
WindN 9-12 mph
Pressure1030.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:19 / 17:55
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)55 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Lake Champlain this week

The best day on Lake Champlain this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:26 AM-11:26 AM and 9:56 PM-11:56 PM
Minor period
3:48 AM-4:48 AM
Sun
07:19 to 17:55
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 14 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Champlain: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

When to come: the Lake Champlain calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Smallmouth bass
Northern pike
Yellow perch
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Champlain today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 57 F, wind to 14 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 57 F, wind to 7 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 61 F, wind to 12 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Vermont requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

NY or VT license: most of the lake honors either (reciprocity on the main lake): confirm boundary rules. Bass seasons differ by state: check both.

Access

Plattsburgh, Ticonderoga, Burlington, Malletts Bay and dozens of ramps both shores.

About this water

271,000 acres, NY/VT/Quebec. Natural lake, 400 ft deep at the broad lake. Drains north via the Richelieu to the St. Lawrence.

Fishing Lake Champlain: the full guide

Almost great, entirely underrated

Champlain runs 120 miles down the New York-Vermont border: 271,000 acres of trophy smallmouth flats, largemouth bays, lake trout and landlocked salmon depths, and pike weedlines. National bass tours visit for the numbers; locals stay for a multi-species richness almost nowhere else matches.

Pick a game

Smallmouth: rock reefs and shoals lake-wide (the Inland Sea north of the islands is hallowed water): drop shots and tubes. Largemouth: Ticonderoga's southern grass and Missisquoi Bay's pads, frog and flipping country. Cold water: troll for salmon and lakers off the broad-lake depths, or swing streamers in the tributaries each fall. Ice season covers everything from smelt to pike.

Two lakes by latitude

Champlain splits by geography: the broad southern main lake runs warm-water classic (largemouth in Ticonderoga's grass, smallmouth on Burlington's shoals), while the northern Inland Sea and Missisquoi Bay add pike, walleye, and a bona fide ice culture. Bass tournaments call it the best value in the East: 100-fish smallmouth days on dropshots over 15-25-ft rock are ordinary. The lake fishes bigger than its fame.

Common questions

Is Champlain really tournament-caliber for bass?

The national tours return constantly for a reason: 20-lb smallmouth bags and 22-lb largemouth bags on the same water, with fish spread over 120 miles so no one area burns out.

Where do the tournaments launch on Champlain?

Plattsburgh and Ticonderoga host most: north for smallmouth density, south for largemouth grass. Visitors can split the difference at Burlington and reach both games.

Is fishing good at Lake Champlain right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Winooski River12 miAusable River21 miMissisquoi River24 miWaterbury Reservoir30 miOtter Creek41 miSaranac Lake48 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 04294500 β€” LAKE CHAMPLAIN AT BURLINGTON, VT
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 44.5912, -73.3063 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.