Justin Webb didn’t set out to catch a near-record fish Thursday night as he headed out to Lake Champlain near the Champlain Canal’s entrance to the lake. He was hoping to catch catfish and maybe run into a longnose gar. Long and thin with a mouth full of sharp teeth, are an elusive, almost prehistoric fish that few target. Webb, though, knows how to target gar — fish the bottom with cut bait or live bait at night, similar to catfish.
So when the Queensbury resident had a solid bite shortly after 11:15 p.m. as he fished the canal in Whitehall he knew he had a nice fish. Webb has caught some decent gar and channel cats before, but knew he had a good battle on his hands as the sleek fish fought.
“They (gar) put up a really great fight, although it didn’t last long. I fought the fish for about five minutes,” Webb said.
When he got the fish started taking line he knew it was a monster. He measured and weighed it, and found it was 49 inches long and weighed 12 pounds, figures that put it just short of the state record longnose gar, which was also caught in Lake Champlain in Whitehall. That fish, caught by Kenneth Cassant, was also 49 inches long but weighed 13 pounds, 3 ounces.
Webb returned the fish to the lake shortly after posing for a picture with it.
“I catch and release, I just like the excitement and adrenaline of fishing. I would have loved to get it mounted but that is to expensive. I would rather release it and let it get bigger,” Webb said.
Webb’s experience is an example of why fishing is such a thrilling sport. You never know when a big, maybe even record-breaking, fish will hit your lure or bait and give you a story to talk about for the rest of your life.
Lake George
It’s prime time for bass on Lake George as the crayfish bite hits its peak.
Garry Nelson of The Outdoorsman Sport Shop in Diamond Point said smallmouths up to 5 pounds have been landed this summer, with a mid-afternoon crayfish feed the best time to target big smallies.
Looks for smallies between 30 and 40 feet, while largemouths are in a bit shallower. In addition to crayfish, Senko worms and Keitech tails are good options. Rainy days have been good for big bass.
Plenty of lake trout are being caught, but most of them are too small to keep.
Charter operators are seeing virtually no landlocked Atlantic salmon as that fishery continues to dry up, Nelson said.
“The salmon are just about gone,” Nelson said. “It’s killed my spring and fall business. It’s time for the DEC to try something else.”
Stocking walleye or rainbow trout could establish another good fishery on the lake to supplement lakers and bass. The lake had a good rainbow trout fishery decades ago but stocking was discontinued in favor of salmon.
It’s become pretty clear that stocking changes made a few years ago — allowing some salmon to grow bigger before they are stocked — has not had much of an impact. The 34,000 salmon stocked by the state annually seem to be nothing more than food for lakers, bass and pike.
Salmon fishing on nearby Schroon Lake is a different story, however. Results of the numerous fishing contests on the lake show frequent 4- to 5-pound landlocks from that lake. Why they do so much better on Schroon — where there are plenty of pike, lakers and bass — seems to be a mystery.
Mike West, whose family runs The Crossroads Country Store and Sport Shop in Chester, said salmon and lake trout fishing on Schroon Lake has been steady. Lakers are down around 70 feet or so, with trollers using spoons in silver and blue, plain silver and rainbow.
Bass fishing has been particularly good on Brant Lake this summer, with 3- to 4-pound largemouths becoming fairly common with Senkos the top choice.