Yellow Bullhead

Top baits include large nightcrawlers (the most productive choice), chicken livers, cut bait, dough balls, and even hot dog pieces.

The prime season runs from late spring through fall, with exceptional fishing during the pre-spawn period in April and May when they concentrate in shallow bays and tributary mouths. Summer and early fall provide consistent action in their typical shallow water haunts throughout the southern Lake Champlain region.

Cast your rig out and let it sit motionless on the bottom - avoid retrieving or moving the bait as they locate food using their barbels and sense of smell. Set up with your rod propped on a stick and watch for subtle line movement - use a clothespin on your line as a bite indicator.

Yellow Bullhead are omnivorous bottom feeders. They feed primarily at night on aquatic insects, crayfish, minnows, mollusks, worms, and notably consume more aquatic vegetation than other bullhead species.

Yellow Bullhead in Vermont are found exclusively in tributaries and along the shores of southern Lake Champlain and its drainage system - they don't occur anywhere else in the state.