Black Lake, NY Forum

I was up at my cottage on the lake for a few days last week. I fished Black Lake only a little bit and caught some nice pike, perch, and bluegill.

But the real fun came from trying my luck on the St. Lawrence River. I caught the biggest walleye and smallie I've ever caught.

Here is a short video of some of the fish I caught. I got a kick out of seeing the one smallie almost jump in the boat.

I still think Black Lake is WAY better for largemouth, crappie, and maybe even pike .... but the River certainly is a better walleye fishery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW79f3-xANk

The only thing Black Lake has on the St Lawrence River is lower property values and less noise. The river is a fish factory of impressive proportions. Probably the best in the US for # of different gamefish and the size of them. For Pike fish a jig with a rubber worm as a trailer in the weed beds. Average size 6lbs. LM's do not get the notoriety there because the smallies are huge but they are abundant.

You are certainly right about the property values ..... that's exactly why my cottage is on Black Lake and not on the River .... along with the atmosphere of Black Lake, which seems more laid back than the River.

Although the Saint Lawrence property taxes are higher than those on Black Lake our taxes arn't exactly low. With the exception of a small reduction this past year taxes have sky rocketed every year since the mid- fiftys. Many of us are barely hanging on with our properties tax wise. I only hope that I can retain ownership and pass it on to my Grandson when he gets older. Catch & Release!

Just realized the topic changed from fishing reports to property taxes. Actually Black lake is definitely a laid back place. Most people and land owners are of Middle class, hard working, good people who enjoy the great outdoors. The lake provides great fishing, boating,camping at a much slower and quiet peacefull pace. May it always remain that way. Catch & Release!

Thanks for taking the time to post the video. I was fortunate enough to get to the river two years ago and did some drop shotting for smallies and I enjoyed it a lot.

The thing that I liked most about your video was how you used lighter tackle. There are too many times I see guys using heavy action rods with 30 pound test and their only concern is to get them to the boat asap and not enjoying the fight.

Well done with the video!! I especially enjoyed the replay of the fish jumping in slow motion. I'd pay for a video like that.

ken18621 wrote:Thanks for taking the time to post the video. I was fortunate enough to get to the river two years ago and did some drop shotting for smallies and I enjoyed it a lot.

The thing that I liked most about your video was how you used lighter tackle. There are too many times I see guys using heavy action rods with 30 pound test and their only concern is to get them to the boat asap and not enjoying the fight.

Light tackle sure is fun. It does have its cons though .... you can easily lose a big fish, or tire a fish out too much during a long drawn out fight. There is a balance.

The rod I was using in the video is a 5.5' light action rod with 6lb line. It did the job and I landed that 9 lb walleye without too much trouble .... but honestly I wish the rod had just a bit more backbone.