Bank Fishing In Upstate Ny

[wcw]

Hi, 

 

Allow me to introduce myself.  I am an Army transplant stationed at Fort Drum.  I grew up in Kansas.  Kansas has a total of about 5 lakes.  It was a 2-3 hour drive to get to any one of them.  They were all state parks which meant that you could just go there, walk to the shore and start fishing.  Also, there were no trees (it was Kansas) so the entire lake was more or less available on foot.  Since moving to upstate, I have made several efforts to get out to a lake and do some shore fishing.  I have been to Lakes Bonaparte, Black Lake, Indian Lake (this one was ... interesting to get to) Black River Bay, and a few other places and what I run into is that any available shoreline is taken up by residential or is not walkable due to trees etc.    I am resisting buying a boat because I move every two or so years and I (my wife) think it would be a pain to move it across the country every few years.  I have scoured the internet to find a post or two about shore/bank fishing and have found very little.  People don't want to broadcast to the entire internet where the good spots are.  This is understandable, but maybe someone could give me a tip on how better to find some fishable bankline.  

[Marty]

Welcome. I've done a ton of bank fishing over the years and it has ranged from incredibly rewarding to incredibly frustrating. My best bass and 4th best came from the bank of a six-acre pond.

 

Here are some of my guidelines, not necessarily good ones, just the ones that I used, in no particular order:

 

Get out as often as possible.

Try to fish at higher probability times, such as morning, evening and overcast days.

Don't rule out any type of lure; if it works from a boat, it'll work from the bank.

Target visible cover/structure.

Until and if you learn some good spots, don't stay in one place too long. Move around and cover a lot of water. Sometimes you'll find a good spot that looks like nothing, but it produces.

Talk to people and see if you can learn anything about what waters produce.

 

Good luck and thanks for your service.

[Darren.]

Welcome to the forums! I'll second what Marty said!

[Felix77]

Marty is spot on.

[wcw]

Thanks for the help, guys.  I guess I'll have to keep searching.  I went to Lake Bonaparte yesterday.  I drove completely around the whole lake and only managed to find about 20 yards of bank that you could stand on and fish.  I then snagged my lure in a tree, got frustrated and left.  I noticed that there is a huge beach down by Sandy Beach State Park with a bunch of little sub ponds off of Lake Ontario.  I might try there next.  I was hoping to try out Black Lake, but I think I may have to break down and rent a boat for that.