Lake Champlain has proved itself one of the most bountiful bass fisheries encountered by FLW Outdoors anglers in recent years, offering up copious quantities of smallies and tournament weight records to boot.
But this large lake in upstate New York is of little value to anglers if they cannot access its generous waters. That’s why a recent $5,000 donation from FLW Outdoors will contribute to the costs of putting a new public boat launch in Plattsburgh, N.Y., the site of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s 2004 Forrest Wood Open held in late June.
FLW Outdoors tournament trails – including the FLW Tour, EverStart Series and Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League – have included Lake Champlain as a destination for years. The larger tournaments based in Plattsburgh, however, have created logistical challenges for organizers due to limited lake accessibility in town.
City officials in Plattsburgh have planned waterfront revitalization projects in recent years that will benefit not only residents and tourists, but also tournament and recreational anglers. The 2004 donation, made by FLW Outdoors through the FishAmerica Foundation, will contribute to the cost of research related to the boat-launch project as well as future construction.
Plattsburgh Director of Community Development Rosemarie Schoonmaker said, “The boat launch is part of a $15 million waterfront revitalization project to enhance the recreational experience in the city of Plattsburgh.
“The boat launch will be used for both tournament launches to bring in more revenue to the city as well as by the public for everyday boat launches to access the river.”
The three-year revitalization project in Plattsburgh will use city, state and federal funds combined with other funds from various sources like the FLW donation. A July 2003 analysis stated that the new boat-launch facility will cost $985,500.
The first time the FLW Tour visited Lake Champlain for the 2002 Forrest Wood Open, FLW Outdoors doubled its typical tour-stop donation and gave $10,000. That amount contributed to different projects: the emerging boat launch, construction of a weigh station and fisheries enhancements along the Saranac River, which runs into the lake.
A new city boat launch will enhance tournament fishing in two ways: Anglers will not have to travel as far for morning takeoffs, and fish will be reintroduced to Lake Champlain more quickly after weigh-ins. For catch-and-release tournaments like those administered by FLW Outdoors, a shorter trip back to the lake should increase the number of fish released alive to be caught another day.
In addition to a new boat launch, the Plattsburgh waterfront revitalization project will include a new hotel-convention center complex and a waterfront park.
FLW Tour pros, fishing in the world’s most lucrative bass tournament series, reeled in an impressive total weight of 2,394 pounds of fish on day one of the 2002 Forrest Wood Open, breaking the previous FLW record for most pounds of bass weighed in on a single tournament day that was set in 1999 at Michigan’s Lake St. Clair. Lake Champlain was in the giving mood again this year, when FLW Tour pros broke the record from 2002 by catching 2,650 pounds, 13 ounces of bass in a single day, again on the opening day of the Forrest Wood Open.
Pros and co-anglers fishing in the BFL, the EverStart Series and, more recently, the FLW Tour have been outspoken about the quality of fishing at Lake Champlain. Considering the lake has consistently offered up big bounties of bass to tournament anglers, it’s no surprise that FLW Outdoors officials have wanted to give something back to the fishery through donations.
In 2000, FLW Outdoors announced its partnership with FishAmerica and has since directly donated more than $200,000 – and helped to generate more than $1 million – for local conservation projects. FLW Outdoors will donate $5,000 for each of the seven FLW Tour events in 2004 as well as for some of the other tournaments taking place among its six tournament circuits. The FishAmerica Foundation is the conservation arm of the American Sportfishing Association.
