Russ Lane has traveled to Lake Champlain for eight major tournaments in his career. In four of those tournaments, Lane has landed in the Top 10 on Day 1 only to let his advantage slip away the next day of the tournament.
This week at the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier presented by Bass Pro Shops, the Prattville, Alabama kept his Day 1 momentum moving into the second day, backing his 22-pound, 9-ounce performance with a 20-9 bag of smallmouth on Day 2 to finish Friday in fifth place.
“The reason for (the drop off) is I usually largemouth when I fish when I’m here,” Lane said. “On Day 1, I caught 19 pounds of largemouth and culled them all out except for one with smallmouth. I told myself (coming up here) that if I get in this situation, I wouldn’t go back to largemouth fishing. I’d stick with smallmouth, and that is what I did today.”
Keeping positive momentum going is something Lane has strived to do during his 21 years as a pro angler. In 2025, he had done that for the most part. He will be competing in his second Championship Saturday of the season, adding to an already great season that saw him finish sixth in the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN Division I standings.
“I was an original Elite Series guy. The thing I’m always searching for is momentum,” he explained. “When you can create momentum, momentum creates confidence. You really go all in on your decisions and don’t second guess yourself.
“Momentum, at my age, is crucial,” he added. “These kids are so good. They are all way better fishermen than I am.”
This season has been all about getting back to the basics for the seven-time Classic qualifier, relying more on his ability to read the conditions presented to him that day more than anything else.
Snow storms, strong, shifting winds and thunderstorms have all factored into the equation during the Opens gauntlet, and very rarely did the same conditions present themselves two days in a row.
“I’ve been focusing on the conditions and letting the conditions tell me how the tournament could be won,” he said. “And then I try to fish to win.”
Managing conditions
The wind was not particularly kind this week at Lake Champlain. A strong south wind blew across the lake Day 1 before shifting the north and blowing even harder on Friday. Some anglers who fished in the strongest gusts on Thursday found relief on the second day.
Those who were protected in the wind Day 1 were subject to some nasty waves on Friday. Day 1 leader Matt Messer was one of those anglers. The area he caught his entire 23-9 bag of smallmouth Thursday was covered in 4-foot waves. The bass were still there, but it was nearly impossible to make an accurate presentation to them. He then ran 15 miles back towards takeoff, landed 20 pounds in an area he had never seen in his life before making the trek back to his starting hole to cull up to his final Day 2 weight of 22-0 once the winds calmed down enough to manage.
Emil Wagner, who took the lead from Messer with a 23-9 limit of smallmouth, said it was the roughest conditions he had ever seen. Five minutes into his initial run, the Elite Series rookie stuffed a wave that left him drenched. It didn’t get much better when he started fishing.
That didn’t stop him from an awesome day, though.
“I caught 50 smallmouth today, 20 over 4 pounds,” he said. “It is literally two of the most fun days I’ve ever had on the water in a tournament. But every two seconds, five gallons of water came in the boat. I was soaked to the bone.”
For Michigan’s Garrett Paquette, the wind pushed the group of smallmouth he located on Day 1 into shallower water.
“I was in 50 feet of water yesterday and the fish got pushed into 35 feet,” Paquette said. “It took me a little while to figure it out, but once I did they were stacked up and ready to eat.”
It was also the rare morning where cloud cover didn’t seem to affect the smallmouth bite. In most situations, anglers want some sun, which allows the bass to rise in the water column and utilize their sight feeding instincts.
It didn’t seem to matter on Friday.
“It is surprising,” Paquette said. “Back home, fishing the way I am for suspended bass, clouds are detrimental. The fish want to sit on the bottom, you don’t see them and you have a crumby day. I was really worried that was going to happen. They weren’t super high in the water column today, but they were up where you could see them (on forward-facing sonar) and certainly aggressive.”
The jighead minnow shines again
There are certainly plenty of suspended smallmouth on Lake Champlain right now, but there are also many anglers who have seen a bunch of brown fish relating to the bottom of the lake. That might lead you to believe jigs, Carolina rigs and tubes might provide some key bites, but it seems like minnow-style presentations are most efficient even for the bottom dwellers.
Ohio’s Bailey Gay finished 21st with a total of 41-3 catching smallmouth relating to the bottom in 50 to 60 feet of water.
“These fish really like to feed up,” Gay said. “I couldn’t get anything going on a drop shot or anything else dragging. Anything you reeled over their head was the deal. They’d rather come up 15 feet to eat a minnow than eat a drop shot right on their nose.”
