OT- Best Lake in New York State

[JoeSchmoe]

18 minutes ago, clink said:

Bristol Mtn is another spot that's a tad crowded for my liking. Check out Hunt Hollow. It's about 60 minutes from CDGA and it's much quieter IMO.  

Seneca Lake IS blah, IMO.  Geneva has the edge over Canandaigua when it comes to dining establishments IMO. That's what's lacking in CA. Aside from the subs from Casa Italiana, I do my foodie stuff elsewhere 

We go to Bristol Mountain for the extra vertical. If we're going to go to Hunt Hollow, we might as well just go to Ellicottville which is quite a bit closer and usually has better snow.

[North Buffalo]

My older brother's wife has a place on Canandaigua and town is too busy in the summer but early fall is beautiful... been by a lot of the finger lakes and they are wonderful but upper Lake George and upper Lake Champlain are awesome without the crowds... hard to pick one... havent spent a lot of time near Ontario, so no insight... I spent my summers as a kid and young adult on The Georgian Bay near Bobby Orr's hometown of Parry Sound... 30k islands up there and water clean enough to see down 40ft... so for me nothing compares... 

[nfreeman]

Great thread @JoeSchmoe   

I haven’t seen many of the lakes mentioned here, but I will say that lake George is beautiful.  

[JoeSchmoe]

10 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I haven’t seen many of the lakes mentioned here, but I will say that lake George is beautiful.  

100%. It might be my #2... I'd only hesitate to say so based on the crowds.

[Mango]

On 6/12/2024 at 10:32 PM, JoeSchmoe said:

Full respect to the Fulton Chain, but there are far more remote places in the ADK than the Fulton Chain... Let alone the whole Northeast. Aside from Eighth Lake, they're all pretty busy.

Sorry, I was talking about Moose River and using the Fulton Chain as region. 

[matter2003]

Green Lake, by a mile...one of only a handful of natural lakes that are crystal clear and you can see to the bottom...they rent out glass bottom canoes that you can go around the lake in...pretty amazing. 

It is one of only 36 natural Meromictic Lakes in the entire world where the waters from the top and bottom do not mix, leaving it crystal clear at all times. It is also pretty deep, formed after glaciers left the area during the Ice Age and is 195 feet deep, almost as deep as the deepest part of Lake Erie(210 feet). It is in Fayetteville, NY which is a little bit East of Syracuse in Onandaga County.

 

https://parks.ny.gov/parks/greenlakes/details.aspx

https://planetforward.org/story/meromictic-lake-new-york/#:~:text=Green Lake is home to,meromictic lakes in the world.

Edited June 17 by matter2003

[JoeSchmoe]

11 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

It is one of only 36 natural Meromictic Lakes in the entire world where the waters from the top and bottom do not mix, leaving it crystal clear at all times

I've backcountry camped at one here in Ontario. It's really amazing clear and blue the water is. When you open your eyes under water everything is a brilliant aqua colour.

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I've backcountry camped at one here in Ontario. It's really amazing clear and blue the water is. When you open your eyes under water everything is a brilliant aqua colour.

What’s the name of the lake?

[That Aud Smell]

14 minutes ago, French Collection said:

What’s the name of the lake?

 

1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

Green Lake, ...one of only a handful of natural lakes that are crystal clear and you can see to the bottom

[Goldseatsaud]

Winch lake

[JoeSchmoe]

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

What’s the name of the lake?

Blackcat Lake in the Haliburton area. There's two sites on the lake. A group of us took our sons in. Dads on one side of the lake, boys on the other.

 

[French Collection]

3 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Blackcat Lake in the Haliburton area. There's two sites on the lake. A group of us took our sons in. Dads on one side of the lake, boys on the other.

 

I’ve been on Kawagama Lake, just north of there but never Blackcat.

[Night Train]

On 6/13/2024 at 11:46 PM, nfreeman said:

Great thread @JoeSchmoe   

I haven’t seen many of the lakes mentioned here, but I will say that lake George is beautiful.  

Great thread indeed. Feel free to correct but there's a small lake 6 miles from Lake George. Grey Lake ?  Six Flags Great Escape is right next to it. Took the kids their a couple times in their youth years back, I would watch folks travel down the lake in pontoon party boats and dock at a restaurant where they would bring the food right to the boat. Great Escape has the old Comet from Crystal Beach rebuilt in the water park. Almost crapped my pants revisiting my youth. But the lake is out of a postcard beautiful and I loved that place. 

Edited June 17 by Night Train

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, French Collection said:

I’ve been on Kawagama Lake, just north of there but never Blackcat.

Blackcat is paddle in only and the portage from Clear Lake is a TOUGH one. I had been on it before on a day paddle, and knew what to expect. When I went in with the dad group, some of who aren't light packers, they were ready to throw me the lake and and leave me there.

After we got to the site, and after enjoying the beauty of it all (along with a few cold ones) they were making plans for next year... which sadly didn't materialize after everyone got real busy post-COVID.

[Porous Five Hole]

I vote Waneta Lake, which is a small lake just south of Keuka. Kind of in between Keuka & Seneca.  My family has a spot there.  It is very shallow so it warms up quickly. That is great because it is “adult warm” as early aa Memorial Day…even if the water gets a bit weedy.  It’s quiet and mostly undeveloped compared to the big brother finger lakes. The fishing is great (Muskie, Large & Small mouth bass, and lots more) and most of the residents are old, quiet and polite.  
 

Waneta’s (and neighbor lake Lamoka) biggest problem is harmful algae bloom (HAB) which started happening here in 2022. And HABs are becoming a problem in the finger lakes.  The DEC has their work cut out for them to figure out how to combat it. 

[Pimlach]

On 6/13/2024 at 4:51 PM, gregmo said:

Saranac.  Good beer also.

Saranac has great memories for me.  A long time ago.   Lake Placid and Tupper Lake as well.  

[matter2003]

3 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Blackcat is paddle in only and the portage from Clear Lake is a TOUGH one. I had been on it before on a day paddle, and knew what to expect. When I went in with the dad group, some of who aren't light packers, they were ready to throw me the lake and and leave me there.

After we got to the site, and after enjoying the beauty of it all (along with a few cold ones) they were making plans for next year... which sadly didn't materialize after everyone got real busy post-COVID.

"Blackcat is bad luck...

bad guys wear black...

must have been a White guy who started all that..." 

 

[Indabuff]

On 6/13/2024 at 8:17 AM, Jorcus said:

For big game fishing you are going to have a hard time beating lake Ontario. We don't even weigh kings unless they are getting close to 20 lbs anymore. My arm is killing me from yesterdays trip and I only fought with 3 king salmon yesterday. 

Chautauqua was the lake I learned to fish on with my Grandfather. Its pretty but shallow and busy in the summer.

Keuka is a beautiful lake, Fishing is ok, but a very expensive place to stay these days. Best of the fingers. Skaneateles is 2nd for beauty. Another expensive lake though. 

Adirondack area has so many, Blue mountain is beautiful, and so is Placid, others worth going to Piseco. 4th lake, Indian lake, lake flower. That does not include ones that you hike into like cedar lake in the West Canada area. 

I think it's time for a road trip to the ADK!

 

Sounds like you get around (in a good way).  I'm envious.  

[Indabuff]

On 6/13/2024 at 10:07 PM, clink said:

 

Honeyoe Lake is a nice spot to check out, IMO. Too small to suffer from exploitation, like CA Lake has.  

 

One of my favs.

[Gatorman0519]

I had some great times at Seneca Lake near Watkins Glenn. 

[JoeSchmoe]

Just arrived in the Adirondacks a couple hours ago for a little Schmoe-time. Fishing, hiking, paddling, and maybe some reading during the rain. It's a travel day today, so I'm camped out by the Sacandaga River a little bit outside of Speculator. 

I'm hoping to hit Henderson Lake for a paddle tomorrow. Still not sure if I'll stay there for the evening or hit the Long Lake area. After that, I'll do a couple nights on Raquette Lake for some bass fishing.

Edit: I'm sure there's a how to somewhere, but if anyone knows how to post pics, can you let me know? The attachment limit sucks.

Edited June 26 by JoeSchmoe

[Porous Five Hole]

9 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Just arrived in the Adirondacks a couple hours ago for a little Schmoe-time. Fishing, hiking, paddling, and maybe some reading during the rain. It's a travel day today, so I'm camped out by the Sacandaga River a little bit outside of Speculator. 

I'm hoping to hit Henderson Lake for a paddle tomorrow. Still not sure if I'll stay there for the evening or hit the Long Lake area. After that, I'll do a couple nights on Raquette Lake for some bass fishing.

Edit: I'm sure there's a how to somewhere, but if anyone knows how to post pics, can you let me know? The attachment limit sucks.

I can help.  When you upload a pic, choose this option:

 

1 minute ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I can help.  When you upload a pic, choose this option:

 

Then, select the size that fits (less than 500KB)

 

Edited June 26 by Porous Five Hole

[JoeSchmoe]

I'm on Android 

[Porous Five Hole]

Just now, JoeSchmoe said:

I'm on Android 

Well that’s your bad lol 😉

It is probably similar in some way. 

[JoeSchmoe]

Turns out I needed an app to reduce photo size on my Google Pixel phone. Anyhow, I had a really nice paddle on Henderson Lake. 

For you downstaters, Henderson is considered "the source" of the Hudson River (though there are smaller streams coming out of the mountains that feed into Henderson). 

The cell phone pics turned out ok, but it's hard to capture the size of the peaks around you.