Lake Champlain: Water Coming Down- Fishing Heating Up

The water level continues to drop on Lake Champlain, as of 6/16 at Burlington it was 100.33 ft (just above flood stage which is 100'). See: NOAA Lake Champlain Data for up to date lake forecasts and conditions.

Many more access areas are now open for launching. On the NY side Willsboro and Westport are both open. The floating docks are not in but are expected to be installed soon . We are hearing from fishermen that it is now possible to launch at all sites on the NY side although caution is still needed.

From NYS DEC:

The newly constructed Downtown Plattsburgh Boat Launch Site is open and ready for use. It is the only DEC boat launch site on Lake Champlain with floating docks installed -see below. (6/16)

All DEC boat launch sites are fully operational except for the following: (6/16)

Boat launches on Lake Champlain do not have floating docks installed because water levels remain too high

• • The Downtown Plattsburgh boat launch is the only exception - it is fully operational.
  • Although bathrooms have been opened at most of the boat launches,launching and retrieving boats will be difficult, especially for boaters not familiar with the location of ramps, walkways, docks, posts, etc. that are now underwater.
• The pump station is closed at the Peru Dock Boat Launch
• The floating dock has not been installed at the Chazy Boat Launch

Vermont Fish & Wildlife has excellent updated info on access areas on their website: vtfishandwildlife.com