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Rock Bass are plentiful in Lake Champlain and are easily distinguishable by their red eye. Some say that they are good to eat. We say, why eat them when there are so many better choices out there? These fish are a bass bed predators. Lures that mimic rock bass make excellent choices for bed fishing. |
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| The white perch is a member of the same family of fish as the striped bass. The population in general appears to be spreading throughout the lake! This invasive fish has overrun the Inland Sea and threatens the main lake as well. It has impacted the yellow perch populations on Lake Champlain by competing for forage. It also affects other species like walleye and bass by eating their eggs. The white perch is thought to have invaded the lake from the Hudson River through the Lake Champlain Canal. |
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| Smelt were once the main forage fish in Lake Champlain. There was once a thriving commercial fishery in the winter that supported small villages like Port Henry on the south end of Lake Champlain. They were first impacted by the zebra mussel invasion which filtered out huge amounts of plankton from the food chain. Then the alewife showed up on the scene and basiclly wiped out the majority of the smelt stocks. Biologists still find young of the year smelt and a few larger fish so they know thay have potential to rebound, but as long as there are large numbers of alewives it is unlikely that the fishery wiill be restored to its former potential. |
 Got Smelt? |
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