Saranac Lake New York

[juicehound]

hey everyone i'll be going to saranac lake in NY with my dad the first week of june/last week of may for some smallmouth fishing

i've been there 3 times before but its been years since we've been able to go and i'm so excited to finally get back up there.

just wondering if i can get some input from some more experienced SMB fisherman about what baits and patterns i should be looking for considering the time of year i'll be there. i'm going to be on the water each day by 4:45am

i've used a lot of topwater (poppers and floating rapalas only really) and 3.75" tubes to catch them previous years

any other lure ideas?

thanks

Justin

[mod479]

I've fished saranac a few times, first off Ill tell you I've had good luck in both Saginaw and Fish Creek Bay.

Get to Saginaw early and use your topwaters. Poppers are good. Pick yourself up a propeller type bait as well. Something like a Rapala Skitterprop.

Cant go wrong with tubes. bring some new colors along with you, and throw them often.

You might want to think about some 3 or 4 inch grubs, like a G. Yamamoto single tail in a watermelon/red flake or cinnamon/black flake color. Fish them on a 1/4 jighead.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[juicehound]

hey thanks for your reply!

I'm not familiar with saginaw or fish creek bay...are those in lower saranac?

i know where the sister islands are though but not may other places - can i find the places you referenced on a map?

yes! i'll definitely be picking up grubs - and some new colored tubes as well

[mod479]

My mistake, wasn't sure you which part of Saranac you were fishing. Saginaw and FC bay are in upper Saranac.

Lower Saranac can be tricky, and I dont have as much experience down there. Let me take a look at some maps and I will give you some ideas.

Remember, up in the Adirondacks, the water is still cold! Everything is a month behind up there, the smallies are just finishing up spawning, and the males are on the beds. By the time you get on the water, they may very well still be on their beds, or they could be transitioning to summer locations.

Bed fishing can be frustratingly difficult, I'd suggest leaving those fish alone, and concentrating deeper in search of those bigger females.

Then again, sometimes these male fish can be extremely aggressive and will hit anything in proximity to their bed.

Look into dropshotting, it requires patience, but it is killer on these lakes. Many times, I find the fish have never seen these types of presentations and will not hesitate to hit a variety of baits. Get yourself some VMC spinshot hooks (size 2 or 4), they simplify the rig, and I've had good luck with them when I didnt feel like tying a palomar knot to a traditional DS hook. You can get yourself some live minnows and use those on this rig as well if you aren't having luck with artificials.

Checked the maps of Lower Saranac, I'd give Boot Bay and its surrounding islands a shot. Also check out Loon Bay. Fish the sister islands, they look good.

Pick up some senkos/dingers. They are simple do nothing baits, wacky rig them (hook them in the middle) cast them out, let it sink to the bottom. Watch your line for anything abnormal. Colors: Black/blue flake, Pearl, Green pumpkin/black flake, Watermelon/red flake, and my own personal favorite, smoke/silver flake.

Get yourself some square bill crankbaits in browns/white/pumpkinseed SF patterns, and throw those around the islands, you'll lose some, but thats part of the game.

Sorry for the long post... good luck out there, Let me know if you've got any other questions, I'll be up fishing up in the ADKs as well!

[juicehound]

really? wow i may change the week i'm going then - I don't want to have to deal with those kinds of conditions - I want to be able to fish topwater and cranks and tubes and kill em - that's how it's been the other two times i've been there but we went later in June. what would be the best week to go? 3rd week in June?

and don't apologize for the long post THANK YOU for posting so much great info for me - I really appreciate it!

[mod479]

Not a problem, I'm working on getting my NYS guiding license, so I should be able to give a little advice right??

Just a little info, FYI...went and fished Star Lake which is maybe 40 miles from Saranac the entire memorial day weekend.

~75% of the smallies are still on the beds, eggs are still attached to the rocks... meaning by next weekend they will likely still be there protecting the little ones as they begin to hatch.

So, you may want to postpone your trip a couple weeks as you said, or you could do as I did...and go out in search of females.

^^My best from over the weekend.... They're out there.

Good luck!

[juicehound]

wow! beautiful fish! and your gear looks similar to mine! ci4's are the bomb

thats very cool - good luck w/ the certification man!

THANK YOU so much for that advice - i'm so glad i haven't booked my trip yet

So, if I were to pick a wednesday through saturday in June to go which one would you recommend?

Justin

[mod479]

Justin,

Thank you, caught around ~15 fish over 16" that weekend...five or six over 18, a few over 19, and two over 20". It was one of the best days I've had up there in over 10 years. All fish were caught on roboworms of assorted colors, and then released.

CI4's are indeed the bomb, it's paired up to a 7'2" cumara M/XF, it's a great dropshot setup. 6lb seaguar inviz-x flouro for line. (Good stuff)

Just ordered a Sustain FG 3000. Hoping it is of similar fit and finish. Cant wait to get my grubby paws on it and hook it up to my new Dobyns 703 for some shakeyhead/tube action.

Okay, enough rambling...I'd suggest setting your trip up as late in June as possible...that way you can get in some topwater action in the morning, then transition to bottom presentations as the day goes on, and the smallies move deeper.

If you've got anymore questions, dont hesitate to ask me. I will reply as soon as I can. Good luck, and now some more memorial day weekend smallie porn...

Fish from above, right before release.

The next day, the other 20' fish.

Same 20" smallie next to the dropshot setup

Different fish, 18ish...

Another one, nice colors

One more fish, no stripes on this one...

Good luck out there, let us know how it goes!

Matt

[juicehound]

wow! those are some fat smallies you got there! hahaha thats so sick!

i booked my trip for the last weekend in june so hopefully i'll have a great time and catch a lot

[juicehound]

Okay I need HELP I'm at Saranac and the fishing is WRETCHED!

Last night i caught nothing and tried everything casting to shore and along above water visual points. And today I fished top water this morning around 530 and got 1 minuscule smallie and rock bass ugh

I tried crankbaits and grubs and worms - all I got was a largemouth and a sucker on the grub in 3 hours

I'm assuming the bass are either in deep water or are not feeding because of the time being too close to the end of the spawn- if they are feeding in deep water how do I get a lure in front of their face? I don't have a fish finder and I don't know of any technique to get a lure to go deeper than 20 or so feet

Please help!

[mod479]

Alright, first off where have you tried? Have you seen any fish yet? Were any surfacing?

I can tell you, I fished last night and the smallies just were not very active at all...it could be weather, we had high pressure move into NY over the day yesterday. ( I have a really advanced weather station at my disposal at work).

I tried topwater last night, the fish just werent very into it...they would swipe at it once when it initially hit the water, then nothing...working the bait at any speed produced nothing. So you're not alone.

This is my advice...the pressure may have them closely related to cover out deeper. Give them a day or 2, they will get more active as things stabilize. As I watch my barometer, the pressure is falling, but very slowly. When the barometer falls, fish feed....usually.

One thing I suggest you do is find some rock piles...Its tough to find structure and cover without electronics, but it can be done...this would be a perfect day to put on your polarized glasses and go scouting! Find some humps, or piles and target them this evening or tomorrow morning. Try to find stuff out deeper, dont focus on the banks.

Also, have you tried any tubes? Drag them on the bottom, using slow horizontal sweeps with your rod. Slow down your presentation, and if you think youre going slow enough, slow down more. Also, dont be afraid to put them right into cover, you may lose a couple, but thats part of the game. Try all your colors, tubes will almost always get attention from smallies.

Another suggestion would be some small white/yellow/firetiger color inline spinners...this will target fish that may be suspended, and they will hit them sometimes when nothing else seems to produce.

If all else fails, go get a dozen minnows and craws, and fish them on the bottom on a split shot rig...No shame in using livebait unless you're fishing tourneys.

Dont give up, the fish are there...that lake has some nice smallies. I was frustrated last night on the river as well, then I switched gears when topwater fell flat, and fished some flukes...ended the night with 3 keeper walleyes. Sometimes smallies just dont wanna cooperate on a given night...its the nature of the beast!

Good luck, and feel free to pick my brain if you'd like to know anything else.

[juicehound]

This is extremely aggrivating however it's not as bad as the fishing has been - I posted a huge reply to you yesterday and I guess it didn't go through or some crap like that So I'm posting again here

I have tried everything and since we went out Wednesday evening we have 1 pike and 3 bass - its so ridiculous. We asked another couple guys on another boat yesterday and they said they did really well but I don't believe them - they said try black and chartreuse - its not like the bass will ONLY eat black and chartreuse And won't touch anything else...

I haven't seen more than 3 fish on the surface today and didn't get anything on top water - I caught one more miniscule smallie on a brown/chartreuse tube but nothing else not even bites I can't believe how much this sucks - I came up here and paid 500+$ and I'm getting absolutely nothing for it but the beautiful sights

I have tried drop shotting cranks tubes grubs worms top water rapalas and I'm not gettin bites from anything but rock bass and small yellow perch

Its not like I have all the time to wait around for this to get better as we are leaving Saturday evening

I don't know what else to do - this is extremely frustrating - I wish I came up earlier in the month like I was planning on - the lady that owns the place said the fishing was amazing last week too bad for me I guess

[juicehound]

so i came home from my trip saturday early b/c some idiot unplugged the cord from the wall that was charging my batteries so we had no trolling motor...i was so aggravated i had to catch some fish so i went to a local lake and fished for about 2.5 hours and caught about 20 largemouth 4 over 3lbs. lol

that trip to saranac was the WORST fishing trip i've ever been on hands down

[mod479]

Sorry to hear that, it can be a tough lake. Glad you ended up finding some fish somewhere.

[juicehound]

yeah i'm considering changing my annual fishing trip to another location - possibly florida

i don't like the idea of spending hundreds of dollars on a fishing trip where you catch squat

to be honest the fishing has never been incredible at saranac any of the times i've been there....i've heard of people catching smallies like crazy - i don't know what the problem is but i don't think that place yields incredible fishing very often if at all, maybe just for me

[Brahmabull]

I'm hitting up Lower Saranac Sept 20-23. After reading razzy's posts, I'm hoping I do better!

Anyone ever fish Saranac in late September?

[mod479]

There's way better places to wet a line in September around these parts, but since you asked, yes I did fish there in early October last year on my way through the Adirondacks. It was a rough day on the lake, ended up with 4 or 5 keeper fish...maybe you'll fare better? All those fish came on a dropshot.

[J Francho]

I love Upper Saranac, and fish a tournament there every year. I targeted largemouth in shallow water to win it this past July. Smallmouth abound at every corner in just about any depth beyond 10 feet or so. Split shot 4' worms and drop shot plastics work best on them. I caught this one on a jig and Rage Chuck in submerged wood, next to a floating dock.

[juicehound]

yeah i think i'm going to alter my annual fishing trip destination from now on - that was the worst experience i've ever had. i had a 10x better time in 2 hours 10 minutes away from my house than the entire trip to SL NY lol