Black Lake, NY Forum

With the opener around the corner and plenty of people with years of fishing experience on BL how big is your best BL pike?

see you out there,
Mike

36". Caught a few in the low 30" that were heavier than the 36". Seems 75% are 22" to 27" . I have to say they are the most fun to fish for. They will follow and tap tap making when to set the hook a real challenge. I've had them right at the boat holding the lure sideways in their mouth and spit it out an take off when they see me.

Probably about 34 inches and 9 lbs. A lot bigger average size during ice fishing. Especially in regards to girth.

We've never really caught any bruisers from Black Lake, but consistently catch them from mid 20's up to low 30's.

There are definitely some big ones in there, but when people catch them, they tend to keep them. Which is ridiculous. A slot limit of some sort would really help keep the big girls alive and well .... and reproducing!

And don't forget that the St. Lawrence River is only a 10 minute drive away and has some absolutely world class size pike, muskie, smallies, and walleye!!

We like to take a day out of our Black Lake trip and hit the River. It's such a hugely different type of fishing and body of water, but it's fun and the fish are absolutely gigantic.





Sometimes they engulf the spoon and nick their gill plates. This one bled a lot, but everything gets released and hopefully she made it.


And here is an almost 10 pound walleye caught 5 minutes out from the public dock in Morristown, literally 10 minutes from the Edwardsville Bridge.

Nice PICs MrSimon. Where on the St. Lawrence were you in that first PIC, with Wind Generators in the background? Just curious, I fish the river, a lot, in summertime; from Morristown to Waddington. You are right though the St. Lawrence definitely holds some world class fish.
My biggest Pike from Black Lake, came through the ice and was 42". It went back in the lake.

Phil wrote:Nice PICs MrSimon. Where on the St. Lawrence were you in that first PIC, with Wind Generators in the background? Just curious, I fish the river, a lot, in summertime; from Morristown to Waddington. You are right though the St. Lawrence definitely holds some world class fish.
My biggest Pike from Black Lake, came through the ice and was 42". It went back in the lake.

The wind generators are way down by where the River comes out of Lake Ontario, around Wolfe Island. It's about an hour's drive from my cottage on the Lake, but it's worth doing from time to time. Especially in the Spring when the big pike come up shallow.

Nice guys, can't wait to get out. I was hoping to have the boat up this weekend but wasn't able to get it ready. I'll be out in kayak hoping to hook into 36" fish to tow me around. good luck with the opener all.

see you out there
Mike

Does anyone have any theory on why the pike stay so thin after they spawn? It certainly can't be a lack of food.

I don't think they are any thinner than anywhere else. It seems most pike under 25" are almost always slim. They don't seen to bulk up until they hit the 30's.

Of course there are always exceptions, but I wouldn't say that Black Lake pike on average are any thinner than other lakes.

What I'm more interested in is why there don't seem to be very many fish over 30". Like you said, there is a massive amount of food in the lake. And there isn't a shortage of weed beds to live in, that's for sure.

My daughter caught this one off the dock two years ago while we were fishing for Catfish. Caught on cut bait and circle hook. Took her about 20 min to get it in. Pike was 40”. Was release and swam off after a few minutes of reviving.

I'll weigh in on the lack of BIG pike in any quantities. As Northern Pike grow they progress from a "warm water"( like Largemouth Bass), type fish to a "cool water"(like Smallmouth Bass) type of fish, and finally to a "cold water" fish (like trout). Black Lake does not support "cold water" species very well. There may be some lake bottom springs, or some of those deep holes may stay cool enough, but it's just not the proper environment for growing those fish. The warm water stresses the big pike. This is my opinion based on what I've read. This "stress" may also explain the "skinny" pike in summer opinion that seems popular. The 26"-30" fish are not comfortable in the summer water temps of Black Lake and probably do not feed as much because of it. I am inspired by those big pike pics from the Big River! Good fishing! Spence

Sorry the post of pike above was my first post. I should have put more information in it. It was caught from Black Lake close to Biggie island early June 2014.

Catfish, that is a nice Pike! I'm sure your daughter had a blast. Almost as tall as her lol.
welcome to the boards

Mike

Spence, I think you are probably right on with most of your post. I think it is likely that the pike on Black Lake do get stressed in the summer. For probably 9-10 months of the year it is prime pike habitat. But for the July-September time frame the characteristics of the lake change significantly and it becomes more like a southern lake which don't normally have pike populations. It would explain why there are so many pike caught in the winter/spring and not so many in the summer.