Late Spring Fishing in the Finger Lakes (NY)

[SmallieKing7]

Has anyone had experience fishing the Finger Lakes in New York State?  A couple of friends and I are trying to put together a trip together to Canandaigua Lake in the Finger Lakes region in late May 2021.  I've already scoured the internet pretty heavily looking for fishing reports, especially in late spring.  Found a couple sites, but most were extremely outdated.  I was wondering if anyone has been to any of the Finger Lakes, or Canandaigua specifically, and if they'd be willing to offer any advice for fishing in the area?  We will be targeting everything: Bass mainly, but also pike, perch, and salmon if we can find a boat suitable for trolling.  Please let me know if I'm missing anything in this post.

[GTN-NY]

Southend of all the finger lakes seem to turn on 1st

[SmallieKing7]

49 minutes ago, GTN said:

Southend of all the finger lakes seem to turn on 1st

Makes sense.  Thanks for the info!

[GTN-NY]

10 hours ago, SmallieKing7 said:

Makes sense.  Thanks for the info!

They usually say the northend warms up the fastest due to angle of the sun but all our finger lakes southends are the shallowest sections. 
 

[GaryH]

14 hours ago, SmallieKing7 said:

Has anyone had experience fishing the Finger Lakes in New York State?  A couple of friends and I are trying to put together a trip together to Canandaigua Lake in the Finger Lakes region in late May 2021.  I've already scoured the internet pretty heavily looking for fishing reports, especially in late spring.  Found a couple sites, but most were extremely outdated.  I was wondering if anyone has been to any of the Finger Lakes, or Canandaigua specifically, and if they'd be willing to offer any advice for fishing in the area?  We will be targeting everything: Bass mainly, but also pike, perch, and salmon if we can find a boat suitable for trolling.  Please let me know if I'm missing anything in this post.

I fish Keuka early spring and do great on S/M. Also great for Lake trout either trolling or jigging. Have a great trip and good luck.

[bclark7b]

Is this trip specifically for fishing or will fishing just be one of the activities? Canandaigua is a great town and the lake is nice but there are much better / less expensive to visit lakes than canandaigua. I've had luck on the south end / west river in the spring. 

[SmallieKing7]

On 1/4/2021 at 8:48 PM, bclark7b said:

Is this trip specifically for fishing or will fishing just be one of the activities? Canandaigua is a great town and the lake is nice but there are much better / less expensive to visit lakes than canandaigua. I've had luck on the south end / west river in the spring. 

The trip will be specifically for fishing, however we are not looking to target any specific fish, we just want to experience catching a variety of species and have fun.  What other lakes are you suggesting?  I'm always open to new ideas!

[GANGGREEN]

Canandaigua is a beautiful lake, although it gets quite busy in the summertime, especially on weekends.   There was a strange Smallmouth die-off there a number of years ago and while the smallies have come back strong, I don't know that you're going to find very large numbers of big smallies there yet (they'll be back) but I fished it some last year and have honestly never seen so many small Smallmouth bass on a lake anywhere in my life.   I mean, there are millions upon millions of 1, 2 and 3 year old bass in that lake and it should provide really good fishing in the near future.  The Yellow perch fishing will also be very good at that time of year, though they'll be post-spawn and probably not schooled up as tightly as they get at certain times of year (pre-spawn and late fall/winter) and Canandaigua is filled with nice perch.  Keep in mind that the lake is crystal clear and requires techniques to match, but you can finesse fish and catch both Smallmouth, Largemouth and Yellow perch interchangeably.  Really, any of the other Finger Lakes can be good at that time of year as well.  I don't like to burn spots and won't suggest which are my favorites (I'm odd that way), but you can quite literally fish any of them and catch fish.