South Bay Champlain BS

[HairyBagpipes]

What ever happened to the fishery here anyways?

[mdougla1]

About the time the Amish moved to whitehall in 2013 the crappies saw the writing on the wall.   They loaded up their buggies and moved north to Brant


The great Crappie exodus of Southbay couldn't have come at a better time for brant as decades of commercial fishing finally caught up to the lake. 

In the early 2010s biologists speculate upwards of 7 million crappies a day were being pulled from brant during the hard water season.

Thanks to the new strain of white crappies from Southern champlain mixing with the original hold out population of brant, brant has returned to glory.   


That being said state biologists are worried that brant is still susceptible to over fishing at the current rate...

One biologist recently told me "those who don't learn from the History Channel are destined to repeat the History Channel"

[lowaccord66]

I heard the great crappie reset of 2022 has really slowed down things at southbay.  The powers that be have a new slogan "it's 2022; you'll catch nothing and you'll be happy". 

[mdougla1]

I heard the great crappie reset of 2022 has really slowed down things at southbay.  The powers that be have a new slogan "it's 2022; you'll catch nothing and you'll be happy". 

Agreed.  The fake news media is spending far too much time talking about troubles in foreign lands.

The only thing I'm worried about is Putin more fish back in southbay

[adk iceman]

How’s the ice looking on the bay? Heading out this weekend and trying to decide if I should take another shot at catching one of the last pike left alive in South Bay or burn my shanty where it sits and head up to Brant. Any tips or pointers are welcome

[mdougla1]

How’s the ice looking on the bay? Heading out this weekend and trying to decide if I should take another shot at catching one of the last pike left alive in South Bay or burn my shanty where it sits and head up to Brant. Any tips or pointers are welcome

Head to Brant

No brainer

[HairyBagpipes]

How’s the ice looking on the bay? Heading out this weekend and trying to decide if I should take another shot at catching one of the last pike left alive in South Bay or burn my shanty where it sits and head up to Brant. Any tips or pointers are welcome

With the way the bite in on Brant is, haul that shanty right up here. I haven’t seen a good sized Pike come out of that Bay in a while. When I was a kid we fished that with my Grandad and his buddy Bunk and  you could walk across the pike they were so thick. Now the only thing I care about are thick slab Brant Lake Crappie.

[lowaccord66]

Slabs a plenty, get em while their slabby.

[mdougla1]

With the way the bite in on Brant is, haul that shanty right up here. I haven’t seen a good sized Pike come out of that Bay in a while. When I was a kid we fished that with my Grandad and his buddy Bunk and  you could walk across the pike they were so thick. Now the only thing I care about are thick slab Brant Lake Crappie.

I'd be pretty hesitant to put a hard sided shack on Brant.  You put a 2 man limit of brant crappies in a 1000 lb shanty you're looking at 1300 lbs of weight before you consider the weight of the anglers and their gear. 

Could be dicey as we get towards late ice

[mdougla1]

Slabs a plenty, get em while their slabby.

Bold strategy to put a picture of brant gold on the internet

I'd hate to blow up the spot

[adk iceman]

That’s it! Guess I’m heading for Jimbos

[lowaccord66]

Bold strategy to put a picture of brant gold on the internet

I'd hate to blow up the spot

Just a little something to get people fired up.  Dont worry! My uncle Ronny says you cant blow up a lake until theres at least 14 dozen youtube videos that all begine with a 5 to 6 min boring drive to the lake at 5x playback speed...and drone shots.

[adk iceman]

Just a little something to get people fired up.  Dont worry! My uncle Ronny says you cant blow up a lake until theres at least 14 dozen youtube videos that all begine with a 5 to 6 min boring drive to the lake at 5x playback speed...and drone shots.

uncle Ronny nailed it. Throw in the token shot of a quick 307 stop and the lake is doomed! Brant could probably use a thinning though, don’t want the slabs to get stunted to all 13 inchers

[HairyBagpipes]

Just a little something to get people fired up.  Dont worry! My uncle Ronny says you cant blow up a lake until theres at least 14 dozen youtube videos that all begine with a 5 to 6 min boring drive to the lake at 5x playback speed...and drone shots.

Comparisons can be drawn between this and the tree falling in the woods analogy. “If you’re catching slab crappie on Brant Lake and no one knows about it, are you really catching them?” I personally took two tubes of stink bait and a pack of Ramen noodles (beef flavor only) out of my fishing bag so I could fit my go pro in there.

[lowaccord66]

uncle Ronny nailed it. Throw in the token shot of a quick 307 stop and the lake is doomed! Brant could probably use a thinning though, don’t want the slabs to get stunted to all 13 inchers

Ronny said fish307 is making maps for brant and southbay like On The Water did for the Cape Cod Canal.  Word on the street is there may be a 2023 crappie cup, similar to the Striper cup.  We all know brant will be the spot to get the winning slab.

[adk iceman]

No doubt. The next time my wife tries to convince me to put the family shanty out on south bay I’m going to be filing some papers. South Bay whites are ok but those giant black slabs of Brant are darker than my ex’s DMs

[mdougla1]

No doubt. The next time my wife tries to convince me to put the family shanty out on south bay I’m going to be filing some papers. South Bay whites are ok but those giant black slabs of Brant are darker than my ex’s DMs

I hear there's a derby on southbay this weekend.


I'd be surprised if a single fish is entered.  Place is an absolute bust

[lowaccord66]

I hear there's a derby on southbay this weekend.


I'd be surprised if a single fish is entered.  Place is an absolute bust

The walleye there now live up in alburg vt in the channel. 

[adk iceman]

I hear there's a derby on southbay this weekend.


I'd be surprised if a single fish is entered.  Place is an absolute bust

There will be a 4 lb pike entered that someone will catch up north somewhere and bring down and win that division. And someone will enter a 5 lb crappie that they caught from, well, you know where. That’s it.