Remind me why I fished in Westport today?

[dfurr]

The water's warmed up nicely and varies between 46 and 50 degrees. Still, I trolled for several hours today without so much as a bump on the lure.

[Crazy Ivan]

Not sure why you would fish West Port just yet.....But with a almost full Moon and a Massive Alwife die off just south of there the fish were pretty happy to just mind there own buissness today.
The water is still really cold... think early spring fishing, big shallow bays with major run offs are you best bet.
Todd

[dfurr]

Actually, I know why I went there. My wife wanted to go up along the palisades and it was a calm enough day to do that in my little boat. I saw a lot of those alewives yesterday around Bulwagga. Fishing was better there...

[brute/felix]

Dont feel bad, I also fished from Port Henry to almost Westport without a Bump ! Was the "OFF SEASONS" first trip ever on Champlain. Not the way I saw that trip going. Paul

[Hairbone]

Dont feel bad, I also fished from Port Henry to almost Westport without a Bump ! Was the "OFF SEASONS" first trip ever on Champlain. Not the way I saw that trip going. Paul

Did you troll up the NY or Vermont Side?

[brute/felix]

NY Side

[billfishermc]

We fished Sat (nil). Water was between 40.5 and 41. Your readings are surface water temp only from sun. -likely still 40.5 and 41 at 5-10 feet.
Maybe in a week or 10 days for a true 44-45 when bite starts. I suspect bait at 90-100ft are smelt waiting.

[fishhuntadventure]

It's also a matter of where the bait is active, where it is largest in volume, and where the ideal water temps are/were. I managed 7 salmon in the boat in the DYP saturday but surface temps where we fished were as high as 52F in 10-25 water depth. I caught no fish in the mid-40-degree water nearby.

The deep water doesn't warm to depth as readily as the shallow basins. The huge shallow bay were were in showed a crazy amount of little fish on the sonar.

Another thing: 42 is not that warm and it probably means that just about the whole water column in that location is 39-42. Although 52-55 is probably a good narrow "preferred" range for salmon it will be a while before some predictable consistency sets in. 10 to 15 degree breaks are when the thermocline starts showing up, and I mean 10 to 15 degrees above max density of 39 degrees. By the time water gets to 39 or 40 you can be confident that the entire water column is 39 or 40 degrees. But when surface temps rise in spring from low 30s-cold to 50 degrees consistently the top is usually on fire. One strong windy day can mess that up. But we're not quite there yet.

Once summer sets in salmon will be active anywhere 45 degrees to even 70 degrees when they want to eat- then they will suspend back at a comfy temp with plenty of oxygen. But right now, 42 degrees can be the magic number if most of the water is in the 30s. But if there is a mass of warmer water 50 degrees somewhere nearby the active fish will be in that - not the 42. At this point IMHO it is all about the bait in warmer water.