Angler-of-the-Year #6

Lowell Continues Mastery

ADDISON – John Lowell dominated the field to earn victory in the Champlain Valley B.A.S.S. Club’s Angler-of-the-Year Series stop #6 out of Chimney Point on Lake Champlain. His 17.48-pound mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth set the bar high, distancing himself from the field by nearly four pounds at the weigh-in table. Lowell’s smallmouth lunker of 3.82-pounds provided the weight needed to distance himself from the rest of the field.

John Lowell with a smallmouth and largemouth bass - two of his five fish, split bag winning limit.

“I made the decision to run further north than everyone else to get my smallmouth, and it really paid off,” Lowell said. “I know it’s just a club tournament but I really want to prove that this is something I can do and do well. I found a wad of four-plus pounders just hanging off a point in 25-30 feet of water and they were on my little Beast Coast Open Water Sniper jig. I almost didn’t leave enough time for me to run south for my largemouth – I was having way too much fun and they were absolutely wrecking it.”

The club’s annual ‘split-bag’ tournament is something that every member marks on their calendar. Teams are expected to weigh in either largemouth or smallmouth, but can only bring three of one species to the table, requiring two of the other species to round out their bag.

Club member Erik Rasmussen on Saturday morning, still getting used to his new whip.

“It’s an exceptional challenge to guys who prefer one species over the other,” Club President Kris Martin said. “You’ve got to have a strong understanding of where to look for and find the fish you need to bring in a limit. Largemouth have always dominated the southern end of Champlain - south of the Lake Champlain Bridge, and smallmouth are the predominant species north of it. It’s why we launch out of Chimney Point for this one – you’ve gotta’ make a difficult choice which way to start.”

Ryan Fiske holds a meeting with ‘the Zach’s’ before blast-off.

With Bulwagga Bay, known for its healthy largemouth bass population just across the lake on the New York side, it complicates things even further. An angler can choose to commit there for the day spending a majority of their time actually fishing instead of running around. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that both species are going to cooperate with quantity or quality. With so many different ways to attack the lake as options, it’s usually the angler that can get three bigs of one species quickly and then can pivot to the other that comes out on top. Fortunately for Lowell, he’s proven that his diverse fishing style is an asset in his first year as a boater.

“This is a dynamic fishery and I’ve been fortunate to have strong mentors,” Lowell said. “You’ve got to be able to switch from finesse to power and then back again depending on whether you’re chasing smallmouth or largemouth. Junk fishermen are dangerous in any tournament because they’re going to catch fish any way that they have to instead of trying to force-feed them what they want to throw that day. Versatility is key for this tournament. It forces some people to do things that they normally wouldn’t try.”

In his first year as a boater in the club, John Lowell has now taken first place in three tournaments.

The team of boater Jim White and Kris Martin took second place with 13.4 – pounds.

“I wouldn’t say that we felt good about our bag,” White said laughing. “We kinda’ backed into it. Kris picked up a couple decent smallmouth on a Chatterbait early and I was able to add a couple more to make an early cull. We had a semi-decent three smallmouth limit and figured that we’d then run south and largemouth fish for the rest of the day and bump into some good fish. Unfortunately, the largemouth bite was off a bit and just never really materialized.”

Kris Martin and Jim White with four of their five bass.

Rounding out the podium was the pair of boater Brian Austin and co-angler John Laramie who brought in a mixed bag of 12.13-pounds. Weighing a lunker benefitted them, serving as a tiebreaker between them and Zach McNaughton who weighed the exact same weight. Zach will likely be sure to weigh a lunker next time. 

Zach McNaughton, contemplating the day post weigh-in.

“I caught my fifth fish about five minutes before I had to run back to not be late,” McNaughton said. “I like to fish the Ned rig on the outer edges of weeds which tends to be quite productive most of the time. It was just a weird bite today. Typically it’s much better.”

Boater Olivia Baroffio weighed the tournament’s lunkerlargemouth, coming in at 4.33-pounds.

“Quick! Take a picture.”

“Dennis (Brownfield) and I started the day great but we just weren’t able to find that one more fish we needed,” Baroffio said. “I spent a fair amount of time pre-fishing for this one so I’m glad I found something even if it didn’t prove to be enough.”

Her husband Casey Baroffio was appropriately unavailable for comment.

Ready for battle.

Totals for Champlain Valley B.A.S.S. Series AOY #6(Mixed Bag)

Saturday, August 16, 2025 @Chimney Point, Lake Champlain 6:30AM-2:30PM

First – John Lowell 17.96

Second – Jim White/Kris Martin 13.49

Third – Brian Austin/John Laramie 12.13

4 – Zachary McNaughton 12.12

5 – Andy Christofaris/Dave Monte 11.90

6 – Olivia Baroffio/Dennis Brownfield 10.59

7 -  Zachary Patch/Ryan Fiske (guest) 10.17

8 – Casey Baroffio 2.48

9 – Brian Dooley 2.45

10 – Erik Rasmussen 2.11

Total Fish – 36

Dead Fish – 0

Lunkers

Smallmouth Lunker – John Lowell 3.82

Largemouth Lunker – Olivia Baroffio 4.33

Total Smallmouth caught – 17

Total Largemouth caught – 19

Weigh-in shenanigans and ice-cold drinks.