Black Lake, NY Forum

Where are all my sports fans?, let the games begin!!
The weather here today 5/2/17 in Niagara Falls NY is like it was when we were there last year - rainy, windy, cold. It was the worse weather we have ever seen in all of our years (35 +) of going to black lake - there is something about seeing waves of hail approaching your boat and filling it. I thought I had seen it all.

Anyhow we're there from 5/19- 5/25.

we'll have four of us (two boats) coming up on the 13th for a week. Weather forecast this week for Black lake looks cold and rainy with a chance of snow on the 8th. water levels are going to be up when we get there on the 13th probably.

We'll be there 13th-20th
#TightLines everyone

We are hoping the weather wouldn't get too warm to quick before our weekend (19-24). We are crappie fisherman and one thing I know about blk lake - don't predict weather patterns this early!! So far so good for us - a bit cool though!. Hoping (as we all are) to hit it just right. There has been many a year they turn on; the day after we leave, just right, or the worse weather period ever. I've seen it all but the hail last year was a first.

...Fish-On!!

Same here ....we've had years where the bites been hot ..and others where not so much . Even if its not hot and heavy we usually do pretty good ant finding them . With this weather I dont think you have to worry about it getting too hot before you get up there ..we talked about that too back a month ago when it was super hot already ...but its been pretty cold..this weeks forecast is chilly into beginning of next week ..We'll prob end up with a week of cold windy weather and rain ..hopefully not but thats usually our luck ..thats why I use the pontoon now ..to many years it was too windy to make it across the main lake in the smaller boats and bot get soaked....now with the pontoon there's not much the weather can do to deter or stop me from fishing lol

How do you control the pontoon in the wind? I agree they are a comfy and dry even in big waves, but man they blow all over the place. It's impossible to keep them in one spot. It makes fishing a particular spot very difficult.

I tried using anchors, but they didn't work. Maybe I need bigger ones.

I thought about putting a big powerful trolling motor on mine, but they are expensive and so are the batteries.

I have an 18' pontoon with a 55 lb. thrust trolling motor up front. It has a GPS anchor feature that will keep you within 4' of where you hit the anchor button. The motor moves if the wind changes direction and the speed of the motor keeps up with the wind. Yes it was expensive but makes fishing much more enjoyable.

Yeah thats def true ....I have enough spots I fish that no matter which way the winds going I can usualy find a spot out of it ....with all the bays and stuff avaible...your right though when its blowing hard theres just some areas your not gonna be able to stay on ....and driftings usualy pointless cause your cruising so fast ....so when its like that I just use the pontoon to get across the crazyness back into the more sheltered areas..I fish south end if lake so theres no shortage of bays and stuff down there..that GPS anchor feature sounds sweet ...this year Im renting a pontoon next year Ill have a new one of my own I definitely need to look into that ...thats awesome.

njmike wrote:I have an 18' pontoon with a 55 lb. thrust trolling motor up front. It has a GPS anchor feature that will keep you within 4' of where you hit the anchor button. The motor moves if the wind changes direction and the speed of the motor keeps up with the wind. Yes it was expensive but makes fishing much more enjoyable.

I have that on my regular fishing boat and absolutely love it. I can hold on a spot even in really heavy wind. I'm just not ready to cough up the extra money to have it on two boats.

MrSimon wrote:

njmike wrote:I have an 18' pontoon with a 55 lb. thrust trolling motor up front. It has a GPS anchor feature that will keep you within 4' of where you hit the anchor button. The motor moves if the wind changes direction and the speed of the motor keeps up with the wind. Yes it was expensive but makes fishing much more enjoyable.

I have that on my regular fishing boat and absolutely love it. I can hold on a spot even in really heavy wind. I'm just not ready to cough up the extra money to have it on two boats.

Get the quick mount so you can swap it between boats.

I have the 101 lb thrust on my boat. I bought it from Jim Hanley who had that outdoor show a few years back out of buffalo. Sold it to me for 1000.00 which was about 900.00 off. Best investment I ever made for my boat. The spot lock feature is amazing. I also put the min Kota talon anchor on the boat which is the second best investment I made for the boat. The wifey didn't know about that purchase so I caught some heat! Both tools have increased my crappie numbers tremendously.