Lake George Weekend Report

[Shameless14]

Spent Memorial Day Weekend fishing Lake George with family friends, and it was a blast. Fished three days and had both quality and quantity. LMB up to 4lbs, SMB up to 2.5lbs, a nice sized pickerel, along with countless sunfish and rock bass. We even tried trolling and lost a lake trout boat side. Tons of action, but even more smiles and a great time had by all.

All fish CPRed, pics to prove it.

[NJSquatch]

Great report. What part of the lake are you fishing? I have fished the lake ever summer my entire life and never seen or heard of a pickerel being caught.

Man I love it up there! My 2 week vacation can't come soon enough!

[River Renegade]

Good report and nice fish from everyone. Looked like a awesome trip.

[JDTuna]

Very nice!

[gypsy]

NJSquatch, where do you stay, and when are you going up? That lake has some of the biggest pickerel you ever imagined, we stay at Battlegrounds Campsites at the southern end, if your down that way try wading off West Brook, go out on the sand bar to the weed line, cast no weighted Gary Yamamoto watermelon with red flakes, hook it in the middle, amazing fishing there for pickerel. I was up in November and caught 3 Landlocked Salmon from the side walk in the village right next to the Adirondack tour boat. There was a ton swimming all around, hard to get them to commit, but some flies I tied worked well. Was up for ice out in March, got a 24" brown trout off the steel pier, came back from a May trip, didn't do so well trolling, perch and pickerel on mooselook wobblers, no trout or salmon, our last day putting a nice mess of large perch to bring home, I was reeling up a perch and had a huge salmon follow it right up to the boat, we were fishing off West Brook just past the bouy. The Lake never lets me down, the new boat launch by Million Dollar Beach is nice, before Memorial Day and After Labor Day is free, during the summer $10.00 unless your staying at the state campgrounds, just show your receipt and it's free. I have plans for june 24-26 to be up, try to get up as much as I can, the fishing is awesome! I also have a 2 week vacation up there in August 6-20 if your up there maybe we can get together and do some fishing, I have some great spots on the Schroon River for trout, catch them all summer

[NJSquatch]

gypsy...thanks for the info. i have always associated pickerel with weeds and lake george is generally void of them. I have never fished the south end of the lake.

My family has been going to the same spot for over 40 years at the northern end to the lake on Sabbath Day Point. It is the special place that takes me back to being a kid. If you get a chance take a trip up that way. It is a totally different world than the hustle and bustle of the village/bolton areas.

We generally target deep water bass and man are they a blast to catch. At least once or twice a trip I get delusions of grandeur and troll for lakers using three way rigs but just wind up catching perch and bass. Now my wife that is a different story. Two years ago we are carolina rigging senkos in 40 fow and she thinks she is snagged. Nope she reels in a 8# laker! She always out fishes me and I still hear about that trout. Ridiculous.

[Shameless14]

Great stories guys! I was fishing mostly docks the points and coves south of Pilot Knob all the way up to Plum Point. First pickerel in three years for me, I caught him sight fishing in the shallows. Tons of weeds in the back of coves, lots of quality LMB on them. Have fun fishing when you guys go up, make sure you post a report about how you guys do!

[Lard Almighty]

Lake George is a beautiful lake to fish! Crystal clear and loaded with bass, trout and salmon. Caught my PB pickerel from the south end of the lake. I'd love to get back up there someday.

[NJSquatch]

apparently i am a knob... everyone is catching pickerel up there....

the south end sounds completely opposite of the North end where i am fishing. we are lucky to find sparse bottom grass and when you do that is where the bass are...the shorelines are either rocks or sand with no vegetation to be had. the random blown down tree will have a larry or 2 but mostly we are catching smallies on humps in 30-40 fow

[Sharkyispy]

Nice report! Grew up going to that lake in the summer and got to fish there. Very deep portions of that lake, some great fish tales.....

[icebadger]

awesome report,catching fish and good times with good people hard to beat that.really nice fish and even a slime dart.lets hope squatch gets a slime dart or two so he doesn't feel like a knob anymore.. he seems to be a good angler,i have faith he will get the job done.it was nice of you to share some info to help him out god bless and tight lines

[tjcook]

Spent Memorial Day Weekend fishing Lake George with family friends, and it was a blast. Fished three days and had both quality and quantity. LMB up to 4lbs, SMB up to 2.5lbs, a nice sized pickerel, along with countless sunfish and rock bass. We even tried trolling and lost a lake trout boat side. Tons of action, but even more smiles and a great time had by all.

All fish CPRed, pics to prove it.nice!

[gypsy]

Squatch, I fish in Hague also, up there from the dock you can almost cast to 100', over at Paulist Fathers before they populate that place you can walk in and fish, you can cast and hit 100' water from shore. That is a good ice out fishing spot, catching Lakers from shore!!!

[SplitShot]

Looks like you had a blast..... we're heading up to Keuka Lake (Finger Lakes) next week for a 5 day family getaway.... bringing my gear and hoping there's some good fishing.... we rented a house right up on the Northern end of lake and it comes with kayaks so I'm psyched for some R&R... never been up there so I'll be checking it out :)

[tradingfrank27]

Nice job, never caught a big LM there when we go there for vacation. Usually just fished off the point at the Sagamore

[Shameless14]

Tradingfrank27, actually one of the biggest LMB I ever saw at Lake George was no joke at the Sagamore. It was on a bed between the shore and where they were renting fishing rods out on the pier, untouchable to any boat. Everyone was casting to the main lake, but nobody bothered to throw back towards the hotel :D :D

Lard, nice pick!!

Njsquatch, out of curiosity, how big were the bass you were pulling out of 30-40 fow? Wonder if theyre any bigger than the ones that hang around the docks. And dont worry you'll get your pick one day. So far youre the only angler i've heard of angry NOT to catch one while bass fishing :D

[NJSquatch]

Njsquatch, out of curiosity, how big were the bass you were pulling out of 30-40 fow? Wonder if theyre any bigger than the ones that hang around the docks. And dont worry you'll get your pick one day. So far youre the only angler i've heard of angry NOT to catch one while bass fishing :D

We catch small mouth up to 4.5# in the deep water, it is always consistent action and the boat has caught over 50 fish in an evening. You need to adjust your tactics accordingly (c-rigs, drop shots, jigs, etc). Up at the north end the bigger fish are deep >20'. You can catch a runt or 2 around the docks but nothing over 12".

I catch more than enough slime darts here in NJ. I had never heard of anyone catching one in LG in my 30+ years of fishing it every summer. Learn something new all the time on this board.

[Jimmy in Point Beach]

I am headed up to LG in August and bringing my 17' CC. I do not have a clue about lake fishing. Any pointers would be appreciated! :D Will be renting at the south end of the lake.

[dakota560]

Had the fortune of fishing Lake George many years ago. Never saw a clearer body of water, the clarity was insane. I'm not even sure where we fished although I remember we'd run to an area I believe they call Long Island or the narrows at one point. Small mouth fishing and large mouth fishing was tremendous. Time of year was in the spring / early summer time frame. Used for the most part Zara Spooks for the small mouths and plastic worm / salamander imitations and spinner baits around the docks for the large mouths. You could see small mouths coming up from 30 ft to hit a spook......crazy sight to see. Remember seeing some nice northern pike in the lake also. Small mouth fishing at times was just off the charts good, large mouth the same. Some huge large mouths and small mouths in that lake. What I remember most is how beautiful the lake and surrounding country is, a piece of heaven on earth for sure.

[gypsy]

Jimmy, I'm going to be up there 8/6-8/20, fished that lake all my life. Look for rock piles or humps in 35'-45' water, use a cabin creek jig, you'll catch all the smallmouth you want. Fishing there is great, just love being up there

[NJSquatch]

just got back from 2 weeks up at the north end of the lake where i was fortunate to put in a lot of time wetting a line....the small mouth were on deep water structure (humps/points) in 20-40' of water..large mouth were along shoreline structure (docks, points, islands) in 10-20' of water....you want to work with the wind (and there will be plenty of it) to set up your drifts over the structure.....use your TM to stay on the spot or toss a marker buoy....where you find 1 smallie you will find others.....

take a look at the available lake maps and navionics webapp to familiarize yourself....i purchased navionics plus card for my chartplotter just for the trip and man is it spot on accurate...

http://www.lgpc.state.ny.us/boating_maps.html

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@11&key=agfhG%7Ckr%60M


as far as what to throw we were killing them on carolina/texas rigged 4" senkos (green was the hot color), ned rigs, drop shots, binsky, jigging rap, and flutter spoons on 8 - 12 flouro and mono i stay away from braid as the water is gin clear (20' visibility)

you will need to get your boat inspected before launching http://lgboatinspections.com/ and obtain a permit http://www.lgpc.state.ny.us/boat_registration.html you can get the permits at the marina's up there....also mind your speed on the thruway...

let us know how you make out and good luck!