Black Lake, NY Forum

This year we decided to try the St. Lawrence River for opening day of Pike. We drove all the way down to Cape Vincent and were surprised to find the water temps in the main river were in the low 40's. Black Lake was in the 60's so we were worried that the pike could be hard to find or catch.

We ended up finding a nice weedy bay off the main river that had temps in the mid to upper 50's. The pike were there, and they were aggressive. They really turned on around noon and we caught them all afternoon just drifting with the wind and throwing in-line spinners.

We didn't keep an accurate count, but I know we boated around 35 pike in one afternoon with a handful of nice chunky largemouth thrown in. The pike weren't giants, but nice solid fish. We had a ball!!!!

I'll have more pics and videos later, but here are a few for now.

Other than being peaceful, I always wondered why fisherman waste there time on Black Lake. The St Lawrence is a world class fishery with larger and more abundant fish. Nice report and pictures.

492VS wrote:Other than being peaceful, I always wondered why fisherman waste there time on Black Lake. The St Lawrence is a world class fishery with larger and more abundant fish. Nice report and pictures.

You can eat the fish from Black Lake and not have to worry about glowing from the ingestion of mercury and other toxins.

492VS wrote:Other than being peaceful, I always wondered why fisherman waste there time on Black Lake. The St Lawrence is a world class fishery with larger and more abundant fish. Nice report and pictures.

Both are world class fisheries ... just different.

The River is huge, deep, cold, and has a strong current. Fishing can be excellent, but finding and targeting fish in such a gigantic body of water can be very difficult.

Black Lake is small in comparison, shallow, warm, and it's easier to figure out the patterns. The fish are more widely spread out in the lake, where they tend to be concentrated on the River.

Both hold lots of fish, big fish, and a variety of fish. Just for kicks, here is a little breakdown of my personal experience between the two. Your mileage may vary.

Biggest pike caught: Black Lake
Best pike fishing 'action': Tie - have had incredible action on both bodies of water

Biggest walleye: St. Lawrence
Best walleye 'action': St. Lawrence

Biggest Smallie: St. Lawrence
Best Smallie 'action': Black Lake

Biggest Largemouth: Black Lake
Best Largemouth 'action': Black Lake

Biggest Perch: Black Lake
Best Perch 'action': St. Lawrence

Mr. Simon,
That is an incredible trip for northern pike. You had some giant pickerel in the mix also. I always hope to catch northerns like that, but I think I visit at the wrong time of year (usually July). I teach in Central Florida and catch plenty of lmb, so when I go home to NY in July, northern pike and smb are my favorite species. We have pickerel here, but no northerns. A good day for me would be about 6 northerns, of course we catch a lot of smb and lmb to go along with them. Keep up the great catchin'. Fantastic Photos

That one is a monster chain pickerel!

I'd be surprised if those pickerel don't have some pike mixed in.