PLATTSBURGH — Sometimes when you know, you know.
Ryan Latinville had a moment like that during the Major League Fishing-sanctioned Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament, when he crossed the 23-pound mark for his total.
“I was like running in place on my boat when I caught that fish,” he said. “I knew how excited I was. I was like I just didn’t even know what to do — whether I was gonna jump in the lake or just run in place. I just knew that that was the one. I was like, if I get beat today, then they would really have to have a record bag because, 22 pounds on this lake is like very stout. It’s a four, roughly like a four-and-a-half pound average, just under. and I knew that I had a really good shot at a win with 23.”
His winning total — 23 pounds, 15 ounces — was more than 2 pounds heavier than the runner-up’s and earned him $9,960.
“It’s kind of like nailing the coffin, that’s what I said before because it is,” Latinville said. “I was almost 24 pounds. It’s almost a five pound average, where like a six pounder on this lake is a unicorn. There’s like none of them, very few. …But what makes Champlain special is there’s tons of like 3- to 3¼-pounders, and a lot of the lakes in the country don’t have that average. A lot of them are, like, you know, pound-and-a-quarter average or pound-and-a-half average. This place is like there’s 3-pounders all over the lake.”
Lake Champlain is Latinville’s home water. He owns Champs Charter Service, a guide business.
“I spend tons of time out here,” he said. “I’ve traveled around a lot, and it helps when you’re in a pinch or when you go to a new place. You don’t have these areas that like your plan C, D, E. Like you don’t really have that. You go to a new place and you have plans A and B. Here on Champlain, we’ve got like all the way to the Z because it’s in our backyard, and I spend so much time here that if A, B, C or D fails, I can change tactics. I can quickly maneuver, do different things based on the weather.”
It was so flawless that the night before he told his wife, Morgan, that he felt he was going to win.
“To be honest, I’ve never heard Ryan say, ‘I think I’m going to win this one,’” she said. “But, I have seen him give his all every practice and every tournament over the past 11 years being together. I am very proud of him, and it is something he is so deserving of. He works his butt off, providing for us and is always supporting and cheering on his fellow fishermen friends. This was his time.”
Family is something Ryan Latinville takes immense pride in. He stated that his family, Morgan and two kids — Jaxon and Izabelle — travel to Florida twice a year. This weekend they were headed to Maine for a weekend getaway.
“So family life for me is what you see,” he said. “They’re great kids, but two wild ones. They’re all over the place. A beautiful wife, Morgan, at home. Family life. We do a lot of traveling. We do a lot of things together. We go out to eat all the time. We’re like regulars at all these places to eat dinner and go on the boat. We go over to the North Hero House often.”
Because his fishing schedule keeps him busy over the summer months, his weekends are usually away from his family. But, as he said, it’s not too big of a deal as his kids are on summer vacation.
His weeks are flexible enough that he finds time to spend with them or help around the house when needed.
Latinville has a lot going on outside of fishing, but he’s able to compartmentalize it all and keep things separate. Like keeping work life away from home life.
“I have work, then I have fishing, which goes with work, and then I have home,” he said. “Coming home to my family is like the best thing ever. and fishing for a living is like a bonus.”
Next up for Latinville is the Major League Fishing Toyota Series on Lake Champlain from Aug. 27-29. When he returns to Plattsburgh next week, it’s back on the water for practice.
“So there’s no off-limits as far as how many days you can be on the water,” he said. “I’m gonna try to put like three or four really good days out there before, at least if I can pick and choose. Lake Champlain can get nasty, so I’m gonna try to pick the best weather days to get out there and figure it out. That means sun-up to sundown, and up here in the north, you can do like five a.m. until 9 p.m. because it never gets really pitch black until after nine. So you can spend four or five, you know, 10-12 hour days out there.”
And when that time comes, he’s ready to go and get to work. Now, he has the confidence built off his first win at Lake Champlain.
“It’s go-time, as soon as the first day of practice starts,” Latinville said. “I’m ready to start the tournament. I just am so ready to get it started that when it finally happens, you’d think I’d be extremely nervous, but something inside me just calms right down, and I go to work.”