Black Lake, NY Forum

First contact of the season. Friday's rainy weather drew the first follow up this year. Fair sized fish escorted the topwater plug right to the boat. Showed no interest in eating but maybe next time......

from your screen name I would imagine you were targeting musky. Have you caught many on bl? I know they're in there but i wasn't sure if people fished for them specifically.

Thanks
Mike

We are a small (4) group. We fish ONLY for Muskies. This means many hours with no sign of a fish and many trips to Black Lake without catching, (and releasing), a single fish.
Been at it this way for over 30 years.
I don't think anyone catches "many" on any water unless they go to the St. Lawrence and hire a guide.
It's about the hunt and the quality of the fish you do finally catch on your own terms.

That's great. What has your largest musky been on BL? Wish you luck. Keep at it.

A 50 incher is a fish of a lifetime. I have 4 over 50, so I am blessed.

There are more muskies here then people realize. Have seen them attack sunfish near the surface on many occasions. Just yesterday while reeling in a 8 inch crappie something grabbed it and held on for a good 10 seconds. Crappie had teeth marks on it. Didn't see the fish but this was at a location where pike and bowfin are rare so very likely a muskie.

I have heard of similar incidents from crappie fishermen. They fish over a "honey hole" and a sometimes a musky will grab a hooked fish right at the boat.
The musky population benefited from the introduction of the crappies.
Probably stocking tigers would help the walleyes a bit. Don't know if DEC ever did try that when so many other lakes got into the program.
I immagine the bass fishermen would have some comment on that plan.

First strike of 2017. After 50+ manhours fishing in less than ideal water and wind conditions, a surface lure strike on the last drift of the trip! Musky cleared the water but missed the plug completely.
Be back soon.

keep at it. make sure to update the post when the magic moment happens ....

I admire your tenacity, but I have to ask .... why put in so much time and effort on Black Lake when there are much better Muskie fisheries so close? Obviously the St. Lawrence has world class fish and is only minutes away, but there are also two or three other smaller rivers in the area that also have very good populations of muskie. You could also jump over the border into Canada. Within an hour of the border are a handful of good Muskie lakes, and the Ottawa River is also a well known producer.

I know there are muskie in Black Lake, but it seems your hard work would be more rewarded on better water ..... but that's just my thinking. I could be wrong.

By the way, do you ever catch any big pike on Black Lake while muskie fishing?

BL has the same fish density,(muskies that is) as many of the area fisheries. We favor it for several reasons. I've been going there since I was 12, and I know the areas where the fish should be during the seasonal changes. 3 of us live near Syracuse but my son travels up from Orange County which is a 5 hour trip. Canada would add even more travel time which could be spent on the water. We did take a guided weekend on the Ottawa River and boated some muskies. That trip taught us how to troll effectively but really, the guide did the "fishing". We just landed what he hunted down for us. The ST. Lawrence and Ottawa are just too big for my liking. For one thing, I would need a bigger boat. My 16 foot Sea Nymph fishes 2 just fine and makes netting a lot easier, especially at night. Even my son's 18 footer is kind of small for the St. Lawrence. We did fish it years ago but our boat at the time was too small. Just feel at home at BL.
Never found the pike during the spring and summer to have the size that the ice fishermen seem to find.

That all makes complete sense!

Like you said, fishing is as much about "feeling at home on the water" as it is about catching fish.

I agree with the guide sentiment too. I hired a guide for walleye on the St. Lawrence a few years back. He was a nice guy and had a nice boat, but the whole experience just felt .... off. I'll never forget getting home in the afternoon from the guided trip and launching my own boat an hour later. It felt sooooooo good to be back where I belonged.

Have you tried the Grasse River. It's definitely small boat friendly, and it has a very good population of muskie. I'm not sure there are too many giants in there, but upper 30's are very common.

I honestly think Black Lake has the potential to produce a state record Muskie which is saying a lot considering it is close to 70 lbs. I have seen some really big ones come the surface. I believe someone caught one over 50lbs not too long ago.

A "record" musky would have to exceed the Art Lawton 69 lb. 15 oz. fish from back in the 1950s catch and kill era. While it is possible that such a fish may live in BL, it is highly probable that there are several more swimming in the St. Lawrence during the fall feed fest.
The downside is that to make it official, the fish must be weighed in at a registered scale which results in a dead musky. And for what? Your name in the State regulation book? No thank you. Let her go. Let'em all go.

I agree wholeheartedly with C&R! A high quality picture hanging on the wall is better to me than a mounted fish.

But with that said ... if I actually caught a 70 pound muskie ... I might be tempted to keep it.