Rayovac FLW Series is headed to Lake Champlain
Category: press release
Jul 22nd, 2015 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jul 22nd, 2015 at 12:00 AM
The Rayovac FLW Series is headed to Lake Champlain July 30- Aug. 1 for a tournament presented by Plano when as many as 300 pros and co-anglers will take to the water for the second stop of 2015 in the Northern Division.
“Lake Champlain is known for its massive smallmouth and largemouth populations, and either one of them could win the tournament,” said 13-year Walmart FLW Tour veteran Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pennsylvania, who finished third in this event last year. “I fish differently every time I go to Champlain. I usually get two days of practice in before the event, and I’ll spend one of them up north and one of them making the long run south to Ticonderoga. I really try to keep an open mind.”
Lefebre said that about half of the final 10 anglers fishing last year were making the roughly 70-mile southern run to Ticonderoga.
“It kind of seems that way every year,” Lefebre explained. “The field tends to split up. If you’re going to Ti, you’re fishing 100-percent for largemouth. But the largemouth are pretty good up on the north end, too. Both ends of the lake are real good for targeting largemouth, and everything in between is mostly smallmouth.
“The wind could definitely be a factor in this tournament,” Lefebre continued. “If the wind picks up, Champlain can get real bad, real quick. So you don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket, especially if you’re planning to make the long run south.”
Lefebre said that typical northern largemouth and smallmouth baits would be in play – jerkbaits, topwater baits, tubes and drop-shot rigs would all be popular with anglers targeting smallmouth, while jigs, frogs and worms will be baits of choice by competitors opting to target largemouth.
“I think the weights will be up a little bit from last year,” Lefebre went on to say. “We’re a few weeks later in the year, so I think we will see the fish set up more in their summertime patterns. I predict a three-day winning total of 60 pounds should win this event.”
Anglers will take off from the Dock Street Landing located at 5 Dock St., in Plattsburgh, New York, at 6 a.m. each day. Weigh-in will be held at the landing on all three days of competition, beginning at 2 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public. The event is being hosted by the City of Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau.
Pros will fish for a top award of $40,000 plus a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.
The Rayovac FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Rayovac FLW Series Championship. The 2015 Rayovac FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 29-31 on the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.