PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Generating quality smallmouth bites will likely lead to success at the 2026 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation at Lake Champlain presented by Lowrance.
Tournament days are scheduled for July 31 through Aug. 2, with daily takeoffs scheduled for 6 a.m. ET at the Plattsburgh City Boat Launch. Anglers will return for weigh-in beginning at 2 p.m. This tournament marks the final chance for prospective anglers to qualify for the 2026 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance at Lake Hartwell scheduled for Nov. 18-21. The top 10% of boaters and co-anglers will punch their tickets at the tournament’s end.
Once more known for its exceptional largemouth fishing, Lake Champlain has turned into smallmouth paradise in recent years. The population and size of smallmouth have increased, and the utilization of forward-facing sonar has unlocked the ability to target smallies chasing bait in open water.
Exhibit A was last year’s Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier presented by Bass Pro Shops in September, an event dominated by open-water smallmouth. While that event was during the late summer, a lot of the same areas and tactics will likely be seen in this event. Jighead minnows, small boot-tail swimbaits and drop shots are ideal baits for brown fish.
For more traditional smallmouth fishing, throwing jigs, Ned rigs and Carolina rigs around boulders, grass edges and rock ledges can be productive as well.
The last time a Nation event visited upstate New York, however, was in 2024 when Mark Burgess caught all largemouth to win with a three-day total weighing just over 62 pounds. That tournament was in a similar time frame as this event, but the water levels were several feet over full pool.
There is no doubt big largemouth still live in Champlain, but it has become much harder to win with all green fish in multi-day tournaments. Vegetation and docks provide the best largemouth habitat, with topwaters, jigs and ChatterBaits often being the most productive lures.
Discover Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast are hosting the tournament.
