When Champlain shows its teeth

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — All it took was a boat ride with Hank Cherry to help Trip Weldon decide about the fate of Day 1 at the Bassmaster Elite at Champlain presented by Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels.

Cherry voiced concern about the six-foot-plus swells that he encountered while approaching the takeoff site at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin. Weldon listened and accepted Cherry’s invitation to join him on a test ride.

Weldon, an experienced angler and helmsman, took the wheel of Cherry’s boat. The two weren’t gone very long. Weldon consulted with forecasters at the National Weather Service and the decision was wisely made to cancel the day.

The decision was met without resistance from the 109 Elite Series pros. Most of the veterans have previous experience on Lake Champlain. Some even say it can turn into the roughest lake of them all on the tour.

Lake Champlain’s topography is the reason why.

Lake Champlain runs 163 miles along the New York and Vermont borders. The lake is 14 miles at the widest point. The kicker is the lake runs north and south. Winds blowing from either direction are usually caused by turbulent weather systems. There is nothing to slow down the winds as they build up into stronger gusts running the entire length of the lake.

That happened this morning. Just prior to takeoff the winds gusted to 20 mph, delivered ahead of a strong low-pressure system. The front pulled up southerly moisture that collided with a strong southerly wind. The resulting turbulence was rainy, windy conditions that made boating unsafe.

Veteran pros know what that means on Lake Champlain.

“This lake is really weird how the waves stack up,” said Timmy Horton, winner of a 2007 Bassmaster Elite Series event here. “The swells roll real tight, and it’s some of the roughest water there is to run.”

Horton explained the waves he encounters on the Great Lakes are wider. The separation allows a boater to safely steer between the troughs created by the waves.

“On Champlain the tight rollers could be caused by how the mountains funnel the wind directly into the open area of the lake,” he continued. “There’s really no easterly or westerly direction and if so, the mountains push it north and south.”

Jonathon VanDam, who grew up fishing on the Great Lakes, also agreed with Horton about the unique wind dynamics of Lake Champlain.

“If you get a north or south wind this by far is one of the roughest lakes in the country for driving a boat,” he said.

“You can’t go running around looking for new water when you can’t gain access to it,” he continued.

That situation forces the angler to commit to an area, like it or not.

“You have to hunker down, pick it apart, which can hurt when you are trying to maintain the area for three or four days of a tournament.”

He continued, “anywhere else you can at least run the good wind and put together a pattern, or run a series of areas. Here, you cannot do that on a north or south wind.”

Weldon announced the cancellation over the public address system set up at the weigh-in. After reading the ruling he apologized to Cherry for getting him wet on the ride back to the dock.

Weldon, like everyone else, knows what to do when Lake Champlain shows its teeth.