Rich :

I just read your story on your last Champlain trip. Looks like you got into
them good. What I noticed most in the story however was your mention of
catching muskie on that "toothy critter gitter" spinnerbait. Was that on
Champlain or somewhere nearer to home ?

The reason I ask is that I am the fisheries biologist with the Vermont Fish
and Wildlife Department responsible for managing southern Lake Champlain (my
management district is from the bridge south). In addition to managing
bass, walleye and all the other fish down there, I'm also leading a team of
biologists in researching the potential to establish a muskie population and
fishery in the lake. This would mainly be targeted in northern Lake
Champlain - Missisquoi Bay and River area .... but in the mid-1980's (before
my time here at the Dept.) we stocked the Lemon Fair River and lower Otter
Creek with tens of thousands of muskie fry, most of which were never seen
again. And yet, occasionally someone will call us up saying they've caught
a muskie. Ggenerally it turns out to be a pike or chain pickerel with odd
markings and we've actually even seen some pike-pickerel hybrids recently in
the northern end. But the possibility still exists that some muskie are
still roaming Lake Champlain. It's also possible that strays from New
York's stocking program in the Great Chazy come out into the lake and
occasionally get caught.

So, it obviously caught my eye when I read you've caught muskie and I'm
wondering first if that was on Champlain. I would think I'd be able to
trust your identification skills, and if it was on Champlain, I'd certainly
like to talk to you more about that. Give me an e-mail back sometime at :



or you can call me directly at my office at 802-483-2744. I'll be difficult
to catch in the office over the next 2 weeks as I'll be on Champlain
wreaking havoc and laying waste to sea lamprey (yeah !) on the Winooski
River, if the weather cooperates. But leave a message with a phone number
and I could call you later or on my cell sometime. I also check my e-mail
frequently, and from home too.

By the way, I spent the day on Mallet's Bay this past Monday with another
biologist from the north end of the state and we got our butt's kicked.
That front you and your son took advantage of so well Saturday and Sunday
finally got the best of the bass by Monday. The wind was out of the
northwest at about 25mph and there were 4-foot whitecaps and rollers coming
into the bay. Fishing the main lake was out of the question. We hugged the
shore and ran up to the Lamoille River and fished it up to the I-89 bridge.
Threw stickbaits, spinnerbaits, pitched tubes, lizards - nothing. Came back
down to Mallet's Bay and tucked in behind ledges and islands looking for
smallies - threw everything in the box - nothing. Total for 6 hours of
fishing - 3 pike all under 15". What a pathetic day of fishing. I'm not a
pro, but I'm better than average and I couldn't pry a single bite from a
bass. It was brutal !

Drop me a line.

Shawn


"RichZ" wrote in message
...
Spent one last weekend at Champlain. REALLY wish I could squeeze in
another
one, but there's not that many left up there before it starts getting
really uncomfortable. Water temp in the southern section of the lake was
58
degrees this weekend, but that area is usually iced up pretty good by
Thanksgiving.

Anyay, read about it if you're of a mind to, at the link below.

http://www.richz.com/fishing/article...lain_trip.html