Gagliardi finished second in the 2009 FLW Tour Major on the large natural, freshwater lake bordered by New York, Vermont and the Canadian Province of Quebec, and was second again in the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament in 2010.

The 2009 Tour event was held in early July and the 2010 Series event was held in late August, but Gagliardi anticipates the fish will be a little further along in their normal seasonal patterns this year because of the mild weather in that region in winter and spring.

“The fish started spawning a little bit sooner so there might not be that many fish left on the beds. But, I am sure there will still be some spawners,” said the Prosperity, S.C., pro who was the FLW Tour’s Angler of the Year in 2006. “When we were there in July before I caught a few on the beds and also up shallow fishing a jerkbait. I also caught some on a swim bait and topwater.”

While he will rely on what has produced for him in the past, he said he will check out some other tactics.

“I may throw a drop shot a little bit, drag a Carolina rig some and a football jig – whatever seems to be working shallow.”

Gagliardi said he will start out practice next week concentrating on smallmouth bass and will check out his confidence areas where he has caught fish before.

“I’ll probably practice in that area the first day and then depending on how that goes I may actually spend a day or so fishing for largemouth bass which I don’t usually do on Lake Champlain.”

However, he noted that it seems like he spends a lot of time doing different things, but usually ends up fishing the same places that have produced for him before.

“I will fish some areas I have not fished before and if I don’t find anything I’ll fall back on those areas where I fished in the past and did pretty well. It’s a pretty consistent lake. They use the same places on the lake and you can fish the same pattern the next year. It’s more predictable than most places we go to.”

Gagliardi is coming off his worst season in more than 10 years, having finished 88^th in the points in 2011. But so far this season he is back in a familiar groove among the leaders on the Tour, currently ranked 12^th in the AOY standings heading into the final tournament of the year on Lake Champlain, thanks to two top 10 finishes – 5^th at Lake Hartwell March 8 and 6^th at Table Rock March 29.

“This season is going pretty good considering last year which was not up to my standards,” Gagliardi said, adding that he is looking forward to competing again this year on Georgia’s Lake Lanier in the Forrest Wood Cup in hopes of ridding himself of the bad taste left from finishing far down in the pack in last year’s championship on the same lake.

“I had a really good pre-practice there last year. It was not great, but I was catching fish and then in the tournament I was not getting bites,” he said. “I like fishing that time of year (early August) on lakes like that so I am looking forward to going back.”

“Last year it was just one of those tournaments where I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not get the bites I needed.”

 

FLW Tour Major

Jun 28 – Jul 1, 2012

Lake Champlain

Dock Street Landing

www.flwoutdoors.com