Whitefish in Champlain?

[rboot]

anybody know if they are in there and where I might start looking for them?

[vtmopar]

Never caught one icefishing but few years back me and a buddy caught a few trolling for salmon
In south hero.
Near cedar, savage islands.

[vthonkerhtr]

i know a few guys that have gotten alot in shelburne bay!   

[rboot]

ok, it's a start, I appreciate it.

[thebigwiggle]

White fish and Cisco are definitely in the lake and in the summer when i troll for salmon or Lakers, some days you can catch 30-40 of these in a day when you troll through a cloud of them on the fish finder. i have seen 6 inch Cisco bite 4-6 inch trolling spoons. 
Anyways if you going to target them during the hard water season . you need to find the deeper waters of lake Champlain and these fish will suspend sometimes 20-40 feet from the bottom . You need to fish like you are fishing for Smelt , using hail spoons and other small jigs that can get down deep fast. Also small size 10 treble hook above the hail spoon tipped with a wax worm will work great for picking a few more fish.
Good luck 

[rboot]

now a white fish and a cisco are the same thing?

[rboot]

Just looked it up, whitefish and cisco are different.

[thebigwiggle]

Yes they are different . the way you tell is by the mouth .. the Cisco mouth is slanted more up on like 45 degree angle and the white fish  mouth is more straight or horizontal . Plus the white fish can get allot bigger then the Cisco. i have gotten 2- and 3 white fish trolling.

[rboot]

have you ever targeted them through the ice?

[thebigwiggle]

yes and they are fun to catch , because once find them on your flasher, it can be no stop action.. like i said it almost like fishing for Smelt

[icejumper]

Use to catch them jigging for smelt  at Basin Harbor.

[thebigwiggle]

Use to catch them jigging for smelt  at Basin Harbor.

i know i miss those days at basin harbor when you could walk 25 feet from shore and start hammer the smelt by the bucket loads..

[ckashner]

Basin Harbor or Thompson point

[ice4me]

I've caught white perch in the Winooski this summer...but never whitefish.

[fishn freak13]

I've gotten into the whitefish a couple times between the bridge and button bay while jigging for lakers.  Usually run into them in 80-120 fow and suspended 20-40 feet down.  I've caught several in the 3-4 lb range using a small swedish pimple but that's just because it was the smallest lure I had in my tackle box at the time but I imagine the best way to fish for them would be the same way you fish for smelt tipped with either a waxxie or pins.

Probably they best eating fish you can pull through the ice, in my opinion at least.

[rboot]

I've heard they are good eating, would also like to try something new.

[bomo fisher]

try fishing for crappies rboot

[NH piker]

I went up to Champlain this summer for Laker's and Salmon out of Converse Bay but all I kept keeping was those damn white fish... caught so many I got frustrated and left and didn't go back...I didn't know what they were and when the wardens came buy checking me out on the water I told them that I was catching so many of them things they were surprised.

[PerchSlayer67]

anybody know if they are in there and where I might start looking for them?

bobby I know where they are pm me or facebook.

[Hardwater fisher]

Are white fish and white perch the same thing or not?

[FishHawkVT]

Are white fish and white perch the same thing or not?

No, white perch are different yet.

I would guess that NH piker was catching cisco - I believe they are much more common than lake whitefish. I seem to recall reading that the lake whitefish population was in a bit of a decline. The last true lake whitefish I caught was in Shelburne Bay while trolling for salmon in the early- to mid-90's, but I remember seeing a few caught through the ice there as well back in the 70's. Otsego in NY State used to have a super population of lake whitefish and I spent a week there with a friend of my fathers catching them during the summer trolling small spoons with lead core line - they averaged 3-4 lbs. That was around 1980 - not sure how it is there now. Great eating fish.

[kaos12fly]

I highly doubt that what people have been catching so regularly are whitefish, especially when talking about being suspended in the water column or getting into clouds of them.  Rarely will an angler actually be able to catch a lake whitefish.  In most of the cases listed below, I could bet either cisco or white perch were being caught. 

Lake whitefish used to be highly prevalent in Lake Champlain and were commercially fished until the turn of the century.  Stock depletion caused the state to close this fishery and the species has since fallen into obscurity here even though its one of the most commercially valuable fish in the Great Lakes.  Whitefish are deep, coldwater benthic fish that feed off the bottom on various mussels, amphipods, various other invertebrates, and even fish eggs.  Thus, running spoons 40 feet down in 100+ feet of water is pretty much a guarantee that you aren't catching whitefish.  The mouth is the key characteristic difference against our cisco, but the whitefish's mouth is actually slightly inferior allowing it to feed off the bottom.  Since it is inferior, and is actually pretty small, the only real way you could potentially catch one is to be using a tiny jig right on the bottom in pretty deep water. 

A recent UVM master's student just completed great research project on lake whitefish.  There is a lot to it, but his thesis is definitely worth at least a glance through if you are interested in knowing pretty much all there is to know currently about whitefish in the lake!  If anyone does catch one angling or icefishing, pass along the information.  UVM researchers would be ecstatic to hear where and how!

https://library.uvm.edu/jspui/bitstream/123456789/305/1/Seth%20Herbst.pdf

[vtpike]

lets get some cisco and whitefish pics on here..that might clear things up for folks!

If I'm not mistaken the state record whitefish used to be on the wall at the halfwayhouse in Bridport(I think thats the town)

[fishn freak13]

Here's a couple pics to help clarify

Whitefish

Cisco


I've caught many white perch, many cisco, and many whitefish including some 6+ lbers on the fly rod in Labrador and what I was jigging up in champlain was definitely white fish and have also caught a bunch of them trolling for salmon in the summer time through the narrows.

If we get some ice from this cold snap I'll be sure to get out there and get a few pic's to post and to pass along to the UVM researchers.

[tench]

If I ever run into one of these things I'll do some "research" on the dinner table! 

[rboot]

try fishing for crappies rboot

I've never caught or seen a crappie come out of champlain!!!!

[jbritch]

White fish is a salt water fish related to cod and ocean perch.  White perch are in Lake Champlain and can be a nuisance if you're looking for something better to eat.  I have caught lots of them while perch fishing through the ice at the north end of the lake in 12 ft of water and you can fill a pail quickly because they are so much bigger than regular perch.  The fish buyer will take them but at a lower price than regular perch because they are just not as good, taste-wise and considering the greater effort it takes to clean them.  They are fun to catch, though, and put up a great fight on light tackle.

[Champlain Islander]

I get a lot of white perch through the ice in water from 35 to 55 ft deep. They tend to be closer to the bottom but can be caught in the entire water column when they are feeding on smelt or minnows. I have caught a few Lake Whitefish while jigging for perch on the broad lake off my home on the west shore of North Hero. They are generally about 4 pounds and when I get them they are right on the bottom.

[jbrown]

I think there are a lot of fish in Champlain we don't think we have. I personally saw one I could not believe. Call me a liar and a nut but I have seen a Striper caught in a creek mouth that went 25 pounds! Called the state biologist and he said not that he knew of. There were more there as they were busting bait. I wish I had a camera in my phone then.

[thebigwiggle]

I went up to Champlain this summer for Laker's and Salmon out of Converse Bay but all I kept keeping was those damn white fish... caught so many I got frustrated and left and didn't go back...I didn't know what they were and when the wardens came buy checking me out on the water I told them that I was catching so many of them things they were surprised.

OMG i hear  ya on this one.. when i fished the LCi this summer , we must of boated at least 27 Cisco, 15 or so White fish. Like i said before, when you troll through a school of them and you can see the massive schools on your fish finder, it almost guaranteed, you will be pulling a white fish or Cisco. What makes me mad sometimes that these little Cisco will smash a spoon that is just a little smaller then them.