Black Lake, NY Forum

Caught our camp's first musky on Sunday. A 36"er with a lampry attached.
The water conditions are so much better than last year. The level is where we like it and the water is much clearer.
I wonder if the DEC could reduce the lampry population as is done with the salmon fisheries. It seems that Black Lake muskies have a lot of eel scars.

A long hot weekend yielded 3 muskie encounters. High temps, blistering sun and lethargic fish made casting a torture. Trolling was a different story though as we boated 2 on Sunday both in the 38" range. Monday AM my son hooked the UGLIEST muskie I ever saw. The fish is large by anyone's standards. I would say easily 50" plus. However, she has a huge gash over her right eye (where a brow would be if fish had eyebrows). One flank was covered with open wounds. her tail is split and she is carrying a lampry to boot.
A blessing, she broke off at the net.

Hooked and lost the same muskie I landed 2 weeks ago. At least it was the same size and in the same spot and fell for the same lure.
Other than that the only other fish we saw was a pike.
I really wish people would stop fishing for sturgeon ( or catfish?). I know they're big and strong easy to find and catch but that's why they got wiped out during the market days.
I know there are folks who think going to a ranch out west and shooting a range bison is hunting, but at least their not breaking the law to do it.

Three of us fishing. One lost smallish musky. Some northern pike and bass action. Very hot and sunny.
Water is pretty clear, 79 degrees. Weeds look just right.

Thanks for posting. I never thought of muskies in the lake. I only get there once a year for a week for bass fishing. I'm coming up next Saturday the 11th and staying at pleasant view cottages. I was wondering how the lake conditions are? We always come in the middle of July but last year was the worst fishing we ever had at black lake. WAter was very cloudy brown and hoping conditions are better this year. Do you fish in the upper lake above edwardsville or the lower lake? What are the water conditions like this year? Thanks

Water conditions are ideal for the fishing we do. Water has been much clearer than last year. Weeds are where they should be which supports bait fish. Even the wind is cooperating most days.
We have fished the lake and rivers from Rossi to Heuvelton. It's all good. Just find the bait fish. Within a few thousand casts you should have some action.
Ha ha

We had tough fishing. The lake is a bit green. The Bass guys we talked to were catching a few. We found no muskies.

We were there in late June and the water level was down almost two feet. Was it higher when you were there?

How was the water level in late July? Was own 2 ft. in late June.

Water level seems to be down a bit. Maybe a foot.

My June 23rd post highlighted the ugliest musky ever sighted. We lost her at the boat thanks to me trying to net a good sized fish from the casting deck.
She broke off and we thought she was gone forever.
Well, she was back Saturday(8/15) morning for a rematch. This time my son ran the net and we boated her. In the 8 weeks since our first encounter she had shed the lampry and her eye was healed. I put her back and I hope to meet up with her again in the future.

Lake was up a bit from a stormy Saturday. Water temp. was 74 degrees. Turbidity still slowly clearing.
The Bite was very slow. We did catch 1 small musky, about 21" long. Also sighted a large one but could not interest her in any of our hardware.

Pictures would be nice!

Lost my link or I would post a photo or 2. We have maybe one more trip this year before we close for the season.
It has been a good year really. We boated 5 in all.
A benefit of Covid is we had more days to fish due to work schedule impacts.

Here is a picture of Muskie Hunter's catch.

His description:

This was the largest of the 5 we landed this year.
I caught the fish which we lost earlier this summer due to my poor net skills.
Caught near Edwardsville.
She was about 49". We don't weigh the muskies as our priority is to release them with a minimum amount of handling.
Say 30-35#.