fishing labor day

[frankt]

hi , looking for some info , we fish 3rd week of june and do pretty good catching bass and release most of the fish we catch. i was wondering should we expect the same fishing the week of labor day. i have heard the lake gets like pea soup and it clears out about this time is that true. and is the lake water clear about labor day or does this more depend on weather patterns. we usually target bass with plastics and live bait. would this be same approach in early sept. thanks for any help on this

[GuidedBassTrips]

Just as you are suspecting, it will depend on how green the lake gets come labor day. Right now with these warm and dry conditions, we could have a greener lake than we had last year when we had all the rain and cooler temps. And the bass fishing will be more difficult if you are still using June methods. Two years ago my customers did well in the green water. I had them fishing much slower and on very specific spots though. It will depend on the weather the rest of the summer.

[492VS]

Well the fresh crop of 15 inchers will have been harvested for table fare, so you will have to fool the fish left who have seen dozens of lures. In those 9 weeks I bet 2000 bass meet the filet knife.

[GuidedBassTrips]

This past Saturday I had a chance to talk with Mike Sherry who is a local DEC game warden for the area and patrols the lake. He believes people are practicing catch and release more now on Black Lake than they ever did years ago. And I agree. What I don't agree with is a 15'' minimum that encourages them to keep only bigger ones. It makes no sense.

[Musky hunter]

I wonder why the DEC imposes the 15" minimum length. Is it necessary?

[GuidedBassTrips]

Good question. Its been in place for many years now. I've never heard of a specific explanation for it and always assumed it was because of the amount of cottage rentals and additional fishing pressure the lake gets.

But whether it has helped the lake's bass fishing is questionable. I personally don't feel it has. It could actually be hurting it. I would think the DEC would have to do a specific study to prove it has been beneficial. I never heard of any prior study being done to make it 15" to begin with. But maybe there was and I missed it. In my hundreds of days on this lake, I can only recall once being approached by someone doing a DEC creel census. And it was regarding walleye not bass. I get approached almost daily on the water in FL for creel census.

I suppose some sort of a formal letter to the DEC from the Black Lake Association would be needed to have them look into changing it back to 12".

[MrSimon]

This past Saturday I had a chance to talk with Mike Sherry who is a local DEC game warden for the area and patrols the lake. He believes people are practicing catch and release more now on Black Lake than they ever did years ago.

That may very well be true. But, also equally true is that Black Lake still has a massive over-harvest problem.

Slot limits and lower creel limits would take this lake from good, to world class.

[Phil]

I believe the 15" limit was "pushed" by some campground owners, got support of the local organizations and was pushed to the DEC by the St. Lawrence County Fish Advisories Board.

[Musky hunter]

So..... One can legally take 5 bass 15" or larger per day from BL, or 2 bass maximum 12" or larger in other lakes statewide? and that protects the bass in BL?
Maybe I'm not reading the book correctly.

[GuidedBassTrips]

Statewide limit is 5 bass that must be at least 12". Black Lake has a specially imposed 15" minimum for 5 bass. There's few other state waters that have it.

Does it protect Black Lake bass? Yes....the smaller ones so that we'll have more of those to catch.

[bert the beginner]

if you want to learn a little on the life cycle of a bass and the chances of it growing into a large fish then go on you tube and watch a bass resource.com video called "bass facts and myths(scientific truths you need to know) bass fishing". it is very informative. I fish a lot of the indian lakes and there are some nice fish in some of them and others have way to many small bass!(under 15 inches)

[Fishpro]

Re - talk concerning size of Bass - Years ago after the demise of the Walleye, Black Lake became more of a Bass lake . After a few years it became noticeable that fewer and larger Bass were not being caught. Over fishing, taking and keeping any sized Bass seem to become the norm. So the DEC decided that placing a size limit of 15 inches would allow more Bass to grow larger and more propagation would occur. A few years later it became evident that this plan had worked. Now you can go out and catch decent and larger Bass. Currently we still have problems with some people who visit the lake and take undersized fish. Then there are those who just don't care about the fish population or their protection. We are all caretakers of the lake - lets turn in those who abuse of the laws and rules pertaining to our lake. Catch & Release!!!

[fishinmagician]

Having been a fan of BL for over a decade, I would like to see the camp owners post and advise the renters about the BL size limit. I've seen many of short fish at the cleaning table. I have politely informed people of the 15 inch restriction and it has been met with I didn't know, thanks for the heads up, to what are you a wana be game warden? I'm retired from 30 years in LE. I wish not to engage with criminal behavior in my retired years. However, I do wish the DEC would step up their efforts to catch these short fish criminals. The health of this lake is not only important to me and my fishing family but should be doubly important to the camp owners to keep the people coming back year after year. A simple remedy, on the sign at the boat launch, post a size limit and restriction. On the road RT 6 sign and at the ramp. Then there is no excuse for not knowing. If you cant read, or your just stupid.....tell it to the judge.

[GuidedBassTrips]

And that's exactly my point about having a special regulation but not advertising it. You would think they would have put signage all around the lake on day one if it was an important regulation. It doesn't surprise me there are people unaware of it. People don't look at a regulations guide anymore when getting an online license. So I say either advertise it more or go back to 12" like it used to be.

I have to disagree with Fishpro though. The bass aren't as big as they used to be. And the downturn seemed to happen about the time they implemented the 15" limit.

[nitro205]

I agree, Randy, we don't catch the big bass like we used to. This a perfect example of something the Black Lake Association should address. There's a group of us trying to recruit more people to join so we can push them to address issues important to people that use the lake. It's only $25 a year to join. There are applications at most local businesses, or you can join on-line: http://www.blacklakeny.com/lakeassoc/index.html We need more members to attend the meetings so we can get them to take action on issues that matter