Black Lake, NY Forum

I haven't ice fished since I was about 12 so I'm looking for some BL specific fishing. I will be up next weekend with a few friends. We are planning on doing some basic ice fishing. I'm talking 3 tip ups, maybe a jigging rod, no electronics, no hut / tent. I'm on the north end of the lake and would like to fish near camp without having to travel far. My question is how deep should I be fishing? My area is kinda shallow. I know of a nice submerged rock jetty close to home. I have caught plenty of pan fish there before when the water was warmer. Will the fish still be there in the winter? The end of the rocks is probably 4'. I planned on using wax worms and some small jigs. The other concern is I would like to cross the lake and fish a rock ledge but was worried about the ice being thinner in the center of the lake because of current moving north. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike, where, on the north end of the lake are you talking? Relation to the Monument, or some campground, would be helpful.
Most of the north end is OK for Pike in the shallower waters, with tipups. Fish near the weed edges, drop the minnow a couple of feet, if no weeds fish just a foot off bottom.
You should get small panfish almost anywhere.
Crossing the lake below (north of) the Scotch Bush Rd. may be risky. The lake narrows there and currents can be weird at times.

Good luck.

I'm right at the monument and across from oak point. I'm going to stick to my side of the lake. I already was pretty sure crossing the lake was a bad idea but was looking for confirmation. Oak point is the deepest water near me so that's why I wanted to fish there. The rock pile I mentioned is close by so that's where I will fish without having to cross the lake. I'll post some pics if I catch anything besides a cold. Thanks for the help.

Update: our trip went well. We fished 5 tip ups and used some jigging rods too. Caught 2 perch and 2 crappie. All were caught using minnows on the tip ups. All in all a fun trip. Glad I was able to come up.

Sorry to dig up an old post. I'm from Pennsylvania and we're looking to make our first ice fishing trip out of state this winter. We've heard Black Lake might be a good place to start. You guys said the ice can be iffy north of Scotch Bush Road, is that 58? We're still deciding on a place to stay and I figure having easier access to as much lake as possible would be a good thing (since we're going in basically blind haha). We were looking at probably staying on the northwest shore (south of 58) somewhere but any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Also, looks like you guys might usually get good ice in December. Is that typical? Or has the weather been less than cooperative for you guys as well? I think last year we only got out on the ice 3 or 4 times due to warm ups. We're planning on making the trip the first weekend of January, weather permitting.

Good ice, generally, by the first of the year. Can be almost anything though. There are a few places with cabins, open, on the lake through the winter. If you check out the business directory page on blacklakeny.com you will find them. https://blacklakeny.com/business-directory/

Good luck.