The Best Ice Fishing Lakes in New York State

The State of New York is probably best known for its largest metropolis, New York City, one of the most iconic cities in the world. But there is far more to the Empire State than the Big Apple. With an area of 54,556 square miles, New York State is a land filled with natural wonders, including:

The Adirondack and Catskill Mountains
The Hudson Valley

The Niagara Falls

New York is also home to more than 7,600 freshwater lakes, reservoirs, and ponds, and also borders two of the Great Lakes – Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. With New York’s famous winters, this all adds up to epic ice fishing. If you’re looking to try your luck on the ice, these are the best ice fishing lakes in New York.

1. Cayuga Lake

One of New York’s most distinctive natural features is the collection of lakes known as the Finger Lakes. Eleven bodies of water make up the Finger Lakes and the name comes from their long, narrow shapes resembling fingers. These lakes stretch through 14 counties across the midsection of New York State.

The Finger Lakes as we know them are all that’s left of massive glaciers that once covered the areas where these lakes now lie. But the Finger Lakes go back to a time far before any humans laid eyes on them. In fact, by some accounts, they have been dated to be as old as two million years.

Cayuga Lake is the second largest of the Finger Lakes with:

A surface area of nearly 43,000 acres

A maximum length of 38 miles (it is the longest of the Finger Lakes) with 106 miles of shoreline
An average depth of 181 feet and a maximum depth of 435 feet

Among New York’s angler community, Cayuga Lake is one of the best Finger Lakes for ice fishing.

What You Need to Know About Ice Fishing at Cayuga Lake

Because it is so large and deep, Cayuga Lake doesn’t completely freeze over during the winter months. However, enough ice forms in the north end of the lake to support great ice fishing. The fishable area during ice fishing season is roughly 5,800 acres which leaves plenty of room to fish and explore.

It is at Cayuga Lake’s north end that the water is shallow, and the bottom is covered with vegetation where fish like to hide. This is an ideal habitat for species including:

Various types of panfish, including bluegill, crappie, and perch, can all be caught during ice fishing season at Cayuga Lake.

Trout and salmon are good targets through the ice closer to the northern shoreline. Minnows work well here.
Largemouth bass is abundant in these waters, and they are a favorite target for anglers during the winter.

Access to the north end of Cayuga Lake can be approached from the west near the village of Seneca Falls, or the east near the village of Cayuga.

2. Chautauqua Lake

Located in westernmost New York just south of Lake Erie, Chautauqua Lake is one of the premier ice fishing destinations in the state. Ice conditions are usually favorable every winter and this lake is popular not only with anglers but also families looking to get onto the ice for the very first time.

Chautauqua Lake is a decent-sized freshwater lake with a surface area of 13,156 acres and nearly 43 miles of scenic shoreline. One of the interesting features of Chautauqua Lake is that it consists of two basins of roughly equal size.

The north basin is the deeper end of the lake, with a maximum depth of 75 feet. In stark contrast, the south basin is much shallower, measuring a mere 19 feet at its deepest point. The south basin has abundant vegetation along its bottom while the north basin features deep pits.

What You Need to Know About Ice Fishing at Chautauqua Lake

Chautauqua Lake supports a wide variety of fish species, ranging from various types of panfish to monster-sized muskies. These are the top targets at Chautauqua Lake during New York’s ice fishing season:

Panfish are abundant in Chautauqua Lake and yellow perch is particularly popular during the winter months. Small spoons tipped with little minnows are a good jigging setup for ice fishing. The north basin is a good place to start but don’t be afraid to move around to follow the fish.
The shallow areas closer to shore are where weed beds are abundant and it is in these waters that crappie like to hang out. Depending on how finicky they are, you may need to switch up baits between wax worms, small minnows, and artificial lures.

Although there are well over a dozen species that call Chautauqua Lake home, the most popular fish by far during ice fishing season is walleye. Lures that mimic minnows work best, especially when tipped with them. Jigging and tip-ups are the ways to go.

Chautauqua Lake is as accessible a fishing lake as they come. All around the north and south basins are public access points like Long Point State Park at the north end of the lake, and DEC Bemus Point Launch at the southern end.

3. Honeoye Lake

Honeoye Lake (“ha-ne-a-yah”) sits less than an hour’s drive south of Rochester and is not only one of the best ice fishing spots in the Finger Lakes region but in the entire state of New York.

Honeoye means “lying finger” in the indigenous Seneca language and this lake ranks 10^th out of the 11 Finger Lakes in terms of size. Covering a mere 1,772 acres, this lake measures 4 ½ miles long and is less than a mile wide. Honeoye Lake is also the shallowest Finger Lake with a maximum depth of 30 feet.

These seemingly paltry numbers add up to big-time ice fishing. Because of its small size and shallow depth, Honeoye Lake typically forms good ice year in and year out. For this reason, this lake is at the top of the list for New York ice fishing destinations.

What You Need to Know About Ice Fishing at Honeoye Lake

Honeoye Lake has thick vegetation along its bottom, and this creates an ideal habitat for various species of fish. If you’re looking for an ice fishing hotspot in western New York, look no further than Honeoye Lake. Here are the top species you can expect to target:

The most abundant species you will find at Honeoye Lake are largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, and walleye.
Other fish that can be caught in this lake include bluegill, black crappie, yellow perch, and pumpkinseed.

Jigging at depths of 15 to 20 feet near areas of vegetation will give you the best chance of success here.

4. Oneida Lake

Oneida Lake in upstate New York is a true native treasure. Lying just 10 miles north of Syracuse, it is the largest of New York’s inland lakes. Here’s how it measures up:

Oneida Lake covers an area of nearly 51,000 acres
It measures 21 miles long and has 77 miles of shoreline

With an average depth of 22 feet, this is a shallow lake that hits 55 feet at its deepest point

There are well over a dozen species of fish that call Oneida Lake home. So good is the year-round fishing at this lake that professional fishing tournaments are regularly held here.

What You Need to Know About Ice Fishing at Oneida Lake

If you decide to give ice fishing a try at Oneida Lake, there is a wide variety of fish that you can target. But there are a few species at the top of every angler’s wish list, including:

Walleye – this is one of the most popular fish at Oneida Lake no matter the season. In the winter, walleye tend to gather around the drop-offs and deeper areas of the basin. Stickbaits work well here.
Yellow perch – another top target at Oneida Lake is yellow perch and they can be found under the ice at depths of 30 to 40 feet.
Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass – these species are so abundant in this lake that they draw professional bass fishing tournaments every year. Target largemouth bass wherever there’s plentiful vegetation. Smallmouth bass can be found in sandy shallow areas of the lake.

Jigging with small spoons and setting up tip-ups are good strategies when ice fishing on Oneida Lake. The shallow areas are the first to freeze over and the good weed cover makes them ideal spots for cutting a hole in the ice and dropping a line.

Oneida Lake is not only one of New York’s best ice fishing destinations, but it plays a vital role as a major fishery. Over 300 million walleye eggs are harvested from Oneida Lake and the fry and fingerlings that are grown from them are used to stock lakes and reservoirs throughout New York.

5. Saratoga Lake

Located about 30 miles north of Albany lies another New York State ice fishing hotspot. Saratoga Lake is less than an hour’s drive up the I-87 from the state capital, proving that you don’t need to travel to remote, faraway reaches of New York to access great ice fishing in the winter.

Saratoga Lake is a decent-sized body of water by any measure, but it is perfectly suited for activities like ice fishing:

It has a surface area of 3,762 acres
Saratoga Lake’s shoreline stretches for 12 miles

The average lake depth is 25 feet

Being a shallow body of water in upstate New York usually means that Saratoga Lake freezes over earlier than other lakes in the state, especially the larger, deeper ones.

What You Need to Know About Ice Fishing at Saratoga Lake

Saratoga Lake provides diverse habitats within its basin to support the dozen or so fish species that call it home. There are shallow, sandy areas with thick weeds for fish that prefer cover and deep pockets of water for fish that like to hang out in the colder, darker depths.

Here’s a snapshot of ice fishing at Saratoga Lake:

There is a good assortment of panfish in Saratoga Lake. For species like crappie, bluegill, and pumpkinseed, drill your hole in the shallow areas where there’s vegetation below. A local tip is to apply a little glow-in-the-dark dressing to your jig setup to draw in fish and get them to strike.
Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are plentiful in these waters. Stick to areas where the bottom is rocky as this is where the bass tend to gather. Decent-sized specimens exceeding 20 inches and weighing up to 5 pounds have been pulled through the ice here.

Walleye is another top target at Saratoga Lake during ice fishing season. This species prefers the colder, deeper waters so you may need to trek further out onto the ice to find them. This lake is stocked with over 8 million walleye every year.

The best place to access the lake during ice fishing season is from the state-operated boat launch at the north end of Saratoga Lake. It should be noted that much of the shoreline around Saratoga Lake consists of private property so stick with public access points like boat launches and you’ll be fine.

6. Sodus Bay

The state of New York borders two of the five Great Lakes. It is off the southern shore of Lake Ontario that you’ll find Sodus Bay, a true gem among New York’s top ice fishing spots. Located about an hour east of Rochester by car, Sodus Bay is a modest-sized body of water with:

A surface area of 3,357 acres
An average depth of 18 feet throughout most of the lake
A maximum depth of 48 feet in the deepest pockets

Sodus Bay has a mixed bag of features including areas with thick weeds and spots where the rocky bottom drops off sharply. This adds up to a diverse habitat where various species can thrive.

What You Need to Know About Ice Fishing at Sodus Bay

One of the key factors influencing the ice fishing conditions at Sodus Bay is that during the winter months, fish are funneled into Sodus Bay from Lake Ontario. Trapped under the ice, these fish become prime targets for eager anglers:

Various types of panfish, including perch, bluegill, and crappie, are popular targets. Work the shallow areas where there is vegetation under the ice. Worms and tube baits work well.

Northern pike is another good fish to go after at Sodus Bay. Spinnerbait and stickbait are the way to go. There are trophy-sized specimens in these waters, measuring up to 29 inches and weighing over 30 pounds.

New York winters can get frigid but off the Great Lakes conditions can turn downright bitter and nasty on a moment’s notice. Check local weather forecasts before heading out and always confirm that ice conditions are safe no matter where you’re headed.

Conclusion

There is no shortage of things to do and places to see in the great state of New York. From the awe-inspiring skyline of the Big Apple to the bright lights of Broadway, the Empire State is a place like no other.

New York is also a haven for outdoor activities with an abundance of natural resources and habitats. If ice fishing is your game, the lakes of New York have some of the best action that can be found anywhere.

SOURCES:

https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/united-states/new-york

https://dec.ny.gov/nature/waterbodies/lakes-rivers

https://www.fingerlakes.org/what-are-finger-lakes

https://dec.ny.gov/places/cayuga-lake

https://dec.ny.gov/places/chautauqua-lake

https://www.tourchautauqua.com/media/blog/winter-ice-fishing-in-chautauqua-county

https://dec.ny.gov/places/honeoye-lake

https://www.visitfingerlakes.com/plan-your-trip/finger-lakes-facts/honeoye-lake/

https://dec.ny.gov/places/oneida-lake-madison-onondaga-oswego-and-oneida

https://sylvanbeachny.com/ice-fishing-on-oneida-lake/

https://dec.ny.gov/places/saratoga-lake