I'm spending a week on Black Lake at the end of this month. Can anyone tell me about the lake? Is it a good fishery? With the current gas prices I hope I’m not towing my boat 8 hours for nothing!

I can offer no input to this one but will be very interested....

Going to Black Lake for a week at the end of July....

I will be returning to Black Lake for a third consecutive year June 18-25. We will be staying a McClear's again. Great facilities and great people.

The fishing, simply put, is incredible. The past two years we went up in the middle of July and I easily caught more than 100 bass in a week's time. I'm expecting even better numbers going up earlier this year.

We target the edges of weedlines, shorelines of islands and rocky shoals. My go-to bait up there is a black w/ blue flake 4" or 5" Senko Texas rigged w/ a 1/32 or 1/16 oz bullet weight. LM Bass average about 1 1/2 lb. My PB last year was 4.5 lb LM. We also got into some nice Smallies last year. They seem to school up at certain points and rocky shoals. Spinnerbaits can also work well and will also attract Pike. Topwater action can be awesome in the early mornings and evenings.

The lake can get VERY weedy. That being said, I never had any success with crankbaits or stickbaits but I have read reports of guys who do very well with them.

Beware that the lake is shallow. Unfortunately for us last year one of the guys in our group, who has been going to BL for 25 years, wrecked his lower unit when he hit a rock because the lake was at a lower level than normal. Just be careful around points.

The best thing about BL is that it's a fisherman's lake. In 2 years we may have seen 2 jet skis.

If you haven't already I would strongly suggest picking up a Hotspots Map. We have a dozen or so spots that have always produced and will be trying some new spots this year in hopes of finding some bigger fish. Also, Black Lake Fishing Report Forum is the best online resource I have found for up-to-date fishing reports.

You'll find that it's a very special lake. Best of luck and let me know if there's anything else you'd like to know.

Thanks Dyna7329, Really good info. Can't wait!

I don't think you're making any mistake staying at Black Lake.

I haven't been there in many years, but as long as I can remember it's been one of New Yorks top-rated waters.

It's been a great bass and pike fishery, and Black Lake was also a very good musky fishery, but I don't know if that's still true today.

Roger

Black Lake's a great fishing lake. It's been quite a few years, but when I was there, on a 4th of july week,the water was pea soup green. Does it still get like that?

I just got back from another nice long weekend on Black Lake. We've been staying at McClears for a few days in June for the past 6 years. It's tough at times with all the pressure, just to find a decent place to fish, but you should find one. I had my best luck throwing green pumpkin senkos deep in the shallows right into the thickest weeds. Sure I had to pull weeds off after every cast, but half those cast would get a fish. Biggest fish of the weekend was a 19+ (we didn't have a scale) inch caught by my buddy on a small orange and yellow spinnerbait. The numbers of keepers we caught outnumbered the dinks which in my mind signals a healthy fishery. Strange because I see A LOT of people keeping their fish. Not much of a catch and release mentality there.

Good luck.

The 15" minimum killed this lake. They need rescind this rule. Big fish are there, but you have to work for them. It's popper lake

The 15" minimum killed this lake. They need rescind this rule. Big fish are there, but you have to work for them. It's popper lake

That's weird. I found it difficult to catch anything under 16" last weekend.

I just got back from a week long fishing trip at Black Lake. By far the best fishery I have ever fished. I went with 8 guys and everyone easily caught 15 to 20 fish a day! Every single fish that was caught was released. We did see a lot of campers keeping quality fish, not easy to watch! We already booked the cabins for next year!

I just got back from a week long fishing trip at Black Lake. By far the best fishery I have ever fished. I went with 8 guys and everyone easily caught 15 to 20 fish a day! Every single fish that was caught was released. We did see a lot of campers keeping quality fish, not easy to watch! We already booked the cabins for next year!

Congratutions BassHunter!

It makes me happy to learn that Black Lake is still a crowd-pleaser

Roger