“This is a beautiful fishing lake; I’d like to come back here in June,” said pro bass angler Brent Chapman about Saratoga Lake.

I was crossing the Route 9P Bridge over the lake when I saw the GE Silicone II-logoed Triton bass boat and tow vehicle in the launch parking lot. And when I pulled up alongside the boat, Chapman and his two passengers were pulling their big bass catches out of the livewell.

The anglers, Jacob Ennis and Steve Urbanczyk, both employees of Momentive Performance Mater­ials, producers of GE Silicone II, had a 30-largemouth bass catch-and-release day at Saratoga. The two they were holding before releasing were for photos. Steve’s bass tipped the scales at three pounds-plus, and Jacob’s was a hefty six pounds, two ounces. The primary lures used were a Zoom Speed Craw and a Lucky Craft shallow-running crankbait. Crankbait on Saratoga Lake? That’s very interesting — not too many bass anglers use it.

Chapman, a Shawnee, Kan., native and 12-year professional, became a part of the GE Silicone II sponsorship family in the spring of 2006, which was the first time GE had entered the sponsorship side of professional bass fishing. In addition to serving as a spokesman for GE Silicone II, Chapman wears the company’s logoed jersey and uses its logo-wrapped Triton TR21x boat powered by a Mercury 250 XS engine. He joins NASCAR driver No. 17, Matt Kenseth, as the other member of the GE Silicone II pro team.

As part of Chapman’s sponsorship contract with GE, he takes the company’s employees and clients bass fishing, as well as make appearances at GE product shows and functions.

“GE is a wonderful company to work with, and I enjoy taking their employees out to fish for bass,” said Chapman. You can check out his boat on the Web at www.brentsbassline.com.

Chapman came to Saratoga Lake right from the final Elite Series event on Oneida Lake, where he placed 40th and finished the year 22nd in the final 2008 Angler of the Year standings. That earned him a berth in what will be his eighth Bassmaster Classic. He spent Monday learning Saratoga Lake, and then spent four days taking about a dozen people fishing.

Chapman left Saratoga Lake and New York state with a written remembrance of his visit — a note from the local sheriff. It seems Chapman, like many of us, got confused over the placement of the no-wake buoys leading out to the Saratoga Lake.

LOCAL WINNERS

Speaking of crankbaits, Jim McHale of Ballston Spa and Gary Rhodes of Saratoga Springs tossed a variety of Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps to win the South Shore Marine’s Saratoga Lake Wednesday afternoon three-bass team tournament with a total of 9.23 pounds. They anchored their catch with a 4.13-pound largemouth. First place returned $270 and moved McHale and Rhodes into the anglers-of-the-year points lead with 38.

Rounding out the top three cash positions were John Messier and Gary Bubb, both of Saratoga Springs, with 7.44 pounds, and Bill Davis, Troy, and Ed Noonan, Saratoga Springs, with 7.27 pounds. Second and third places returned $160 and $145, respectively. Messier and Bubb also had the tournament lunker, a 4.89-pound largemouth worth an additional $135.

Several days after that event, I was fishing Saratoga Lake for fun and thought I would try a Rat-L-Trap, and it put quite a few bass in the boat. The largest, just shy of four pounds, was taken along the outside weed edges of Manning’s Cove. I also found the half-ounce chrome blue black Trap was a

favorite of the Saratoga Lake pickerel and one very nice 33-inch northern pike. If you’re a pike angler you might want to add the three-quarter-ounce, fire tiger-colored Rat-L-Trap to your collection.

In the Mohawk River Wednesday afternoon three-fish tourn­ament, the smallmouth bite was definitely on. Leading the way with eight pounds, 14 ounces were Gerry Rosenbarker of Scotia and Bruce Jeram of Rexford. Rotterdam anglers Jason Lane and Floyd Squires were second with seven pounds, four ounces, while Bart Metzold and Sherwin So, also both from Rotterdam, placed third with six pounds, six ounces. First through third returned, $145, $65 and $40. Rosenbarker and Jeram had the tournament lunker, a three-pound, 10-ounce smallmouth worth an additional $45.

Several of the smaller lakes in the area have been giving up some good catches, too.

On Lake Lonely, since the

water level has dropped and anglers can again get under the Crescent Avenue bridge leading to the lake, bass fishing has been good. Mike LaPoint of Saratoga Springs has pulled several four-pounders out of the weeds there using various plastic baits and jig n’ pig rigs, and won two Tuesday afternoon one-man one-bass events in a row.

There have also been some nice northern pike taken there. The big bite was a 29-incher taken in the north end of the lake in about 12 feet of water. Smaller pike have been hitting white and/or chartreuse spinner baits, but anglers using big live bait about two feet beneath a bobber are getting more action.

Several area bait and tackle shops report that the Round Lake pike and bass bite is on, and both are favoring spinner baits pulled over the weed edges all around the lake. I have to believe this is true because I saw a number of

vehicles with boat trailers parked in the launch area and along the side of Route 9 Saturday and Sunday. There were also a number of anglers fishing with bobbers and live bait from the shore.

This is a great lake to drop your canoe, kayak or rowboat in during the week when the fishing pressure is reduced and just work your way around the whole shoreline. You can use a live shiner, but you can cover more water with artificial lures, one of which should be a half- or three-quarters-ounce fire tiger Rat-L-Trap. And as always, be sure that you have at least one rod in the boat rigged with a weightless wacky worm.

The Northeast Team Bass returned to Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain for the second time this season and found the bass were biting even better than in June.

How good? Fifty-eight of the 79 competing teams came to the scales with six-bass limits which included five over five pounds, and 20 teams’ limits had fish between four and five pounds. The winners of this event, by just .04 pounds, were Mike Marini of Schenectady and Mike Towner and of Saratoga Springs with 25.52 pounds. Their winning bag of bass, which included a 5.49-pound largemouth, earned them a check for $2,840. Second, with 25.48 pounds, was the Vermont father-and-son team of Art and Adam Singer. Second place returned $1,840.

The Saratoga Springs team of Ed Kausmeyer and Mike Godfrey was third with 23.39 pounds, and Jeff Russell of Ballston Spa and Dan Dyer of Saratoga Springs finished fourth with 23.16 pounds. Pennsylvania anglers Ken Bennett and Don Meckle, who ran 90 miles round trip to the Willsboro Bay area to fish, weighed in a 22.09-pound bag of six smallmouths. Third through fifth places returned $1,010, $810 and $710, respectively.

Big bass honors and $790 went to Mike Zasuly of Woodstock and Jim Kane of Connecticut for their 5.6-pound largemouth. With one more tournament left, Russell and Dyer are still leading the Anglers of the Year race with 564.3 points.

The majority of the winning weights came from areas north of the Ticonderoga launch site and included waters around the International Paper Company, Crown Point, Bulwagga Bay and Hospital Creek.

Clump grass, deep weed lines and rock areas were just a few of the major structures that played an important part of the anglers’ success in this event.

As for lure choices and techniques, most competitors were flipping and pitching large green pumpkin tubes on quarter-ounce jig heads, spider grubs, swim baits and both weighted and weightless five- to seven-inch wacky worms.

The Helderberg Bassmasters also held their two-day tournament on Lake Champlain at Port Henry. The winner was Greg LaMere of Johnstown with a two-day, 10-bass catch totaling 33.58 pounds. He also got the tournament lunker, a 4.75-pound largemouth. Frank Arcolano of Altamont, whose bags of bass included both four- and three-pound smallmouth, was second with 25.03 pounds.

Ron Naylor of Troy was the runner-up in the no-boaters division with 15.78 pounds, which included two smallies that each tipped the scales at over 4.5 pounds. The primary lures were grubs and Senkos.

NEW SPINNING REEL

Doug Hannon, the Bass Professor, has added a new reel to his WaveSpin series.

The DHxL weighs seven ounces, has eight-plus-one ball bearings, a 5.1:1 gear ratio and a line capacity of 160 yards of six-pound test. I bought the big brother to this reel, the DH3000, and have been using it all summer. I find it gives me longer casts with no tangles because of the new WaveSpin design.

Suggested retail price for the new DhxL is $72 (wavespinreel.com).