PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The question was asked repeatedly and Carl Jocumsen answered conclusively. Will largemouth bass play a significant role in the SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain?
That would be a “yes,” perhaps followed by the traditional “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi!”
Sacking up a limit of big Champlain green ones that weighed 23 pounds, 2 ounces, the pro from Toowoomba, Australia leads Day 1 by a margin of 1-6 over Drew Cook.
“That was pretty fun, but it didn’t come easy” Jocumsen said. “I didn’t make some good decisions at the start; I ran all over the place trying to get a big bite and ended up making a big long run (to the south end).
“They don’t start biting until later in the morning anyway and I was boat 97, so I had a long day. It all lined up for me to test my stuff here and then go. I left the upper end at 9:30, got down there and started getting bites right away.”
This picturesque natural lake straddling the New York/Vermont border has long enjoyed a reputation for diversity, with lots of big largemouth and a much larger population of big smallmouth (the brown ones). Over the past decade or so, the latter have dominated most Champlain tournaments.
Smallmouth like to roam and chase baitfish schools, often over deep water, so the lake offers much more area for these fish to do what they do. Largemouth, on the other hand, tend to be homebodies that rarely move far from whatever grassbed, rock point, laydown or dock they favor.
By their behavior, largemouth are more easily targeted, but most anglers expected heavy fishing pressure in the prime areas due to the tournament’s format. Shortly after the 2026 schedule was announced, a coin flip selection identified five events that would allow forward facing sonar — a game-changing tool for targeting open water smallmouth — and four that would not.
With Champlain in the latter group, Jocumsen knew the field would lack a major tool that’s typically used to track down and engage roaming smallmouth. Plenty of old-school smallmouth techniques remain relevant, and Jocumsen actually started his day trying a few. However, when his opening plan did not pan out, he shifted gears and went all-in for the largemouth game.
“I didn’t come into this event expecting this, but I knew it could be in the plan, for sure,” Jocumsen said. “I just knew that with the pressure that the north has received, the south end of the lake could be a sneaky area.”
Champlain offers varying levels of largemouth habitat end to end, but Jocumsen made an hour-and-a-half run south to Ticonderoga. Named for the historic fort on the New York side, “Ti,” as it’s called holds the lake’s most concentrated largemouth habitat, mostly comprising submersed aquatic vegetation.
The first Australian to win a Bassmaster Elite event (Lake Tenkiller, 2019), Jocumsen saw about six other tournament boats in the Ti area. Anchoring his bag with a 5-4, his strategy included particular elements that allowed him to excel.
“I’m using slow presentations, but I’m doing something a little different — I’m fishing on the outside of where (most others are fishing) and I think it just pushed the fish to me,” Jocumsen said. “I’m fishing about 7-8 feet, so pretty deep (for largemouth).”
Jocumsen said he concentrated on a half-mile stretch that included several sweet spots of habitat variances.
“There are little nuances, little spots, little areas that just switch on,” Jocumsen said. “There are bite periods too, so tomorrow, I have to just put my head down and fish really methodically and just hope it happens again.”
Cook, who makes his home in Cairo, Ga., is in second place with 21-12. Taking advantage of the calm, bright conditions, Cook spent most of his day targeting smallmouth and then went shallow to hunt largemouth. He weighed a mixed bag with four smallmouth and one big largemouth.
“I was never going fish for largemouth until I had my baseline for smallmouth (weight),” Cook said. “I needed 17 pounds of smallmouth before I’d go largemouth fishing because I fished for largemouth in practice and never found that motherlode.
“I found a couple places that had one to three fish, but not those places that have 50 fish in one little area. I was a little hesitant to spend a whole lot of time doing it.”
Cook caught his smallmouth on crankbaits and bladed jigs. He caught his big largemouth on a wacky-rigged SPRO Wacky Snack in a milfoil bed.
Chris Zaldain of Fort Worth, Texas is in third place with 21-10. Spending his day in the lake’s upper end, Zaldain said he fished near other anglers, but he was fishing a unique habitat feature with a presentation no one else around him was using.
“The lake’s natural wind current positions the fish I’m fishing for and it sets them up ready to bite,” Zaldain said. “I’m doing something somewhat off-the-wall and I think this pattern could hold up for four days.”
Like Jocumsen, Zaldain weighed a limit of largemouth. He found plenty of smallmouth, but given their nomadic nature on Champlain, he felt the largemouth offered greater consistency.
Cook holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 5-13.
Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 640 points. Cook — the 2019 Rookie of the Year — is in second place with 637, followed by Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada with 634, 2022 Bassmaster Classic champion Jason Christie of Dry Creek, Okla., with 566, and Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., with 566.
Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 559 points.
Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 3 p.m.
Live coverage of the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain will be available on August 14 at 8 a.m. ET on Bassmaster.com. FS1 will host the morning action on August 15 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. before heading to Bassmaster.com. Championship Sunday coverage can be found on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and conclude on Bassmaster.com.
Discover Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast are hosting this event.