Bass Fishing the Finger Lakes

New York is home to some of the finest bass fishing waters in North America. While fisheries like Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and Lake Champlain are widely recognized for hosting major professional bass tournaments, they’re only part of the Empire State’s incredible bass fishing scene.

Anglers who have only chased bass on New York’s more famous fisheries may be surprised to learn there’s an entire chain of lakes in Upstate New York capable of producing equally impressive fishing. The Finger Lakes offer outstanding opportunities for both smallmouth and largemouth bass across eleven unique fisheries stretching west to east: Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, Honeoye, Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles, and Otisco.

Finger Lakes Bass Fishing

The Finger Lakes are long and narrow, known for their deep water, scenic hillsides, and abundance of fishing opportunities. The region offers a mix of clear, rocky habitat ideal for smallmouth bass and shallow weed-filled areas that support healthy largemouth populations. Beyond the fishing, the Finger Lakes are known for their wineries, waterfalls, small towns, and outdoor recreation.

During the past half century, the Finger Lakes have aged tremendously. Thanks to erosion caused by man, exotics entering waters, and other factors, the shallow rims or littoral zones have grown cover previously never seen. This in turn has created greater cover for bass and other fish. 

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Spring Fishing

The bass fishing season on the Finger Lakes runs from June 15 until November 30. From December 1 until June 14, it is strictly catch and release. 

During the winter, there is very little fishing done for bass. Once spring has arrived, the bass are eagerly feeding, getting their eggs and fat stored up for spawning. 

Water temperature is the key for good early spring bass fishing. Anglers this time of the year would be wise to head into Finger Lake inlets, outlets, and bays where the water temps may be as high as 10 degrees warmer than the main lakes. 

For largemouth bass, look for sunken timber and docks. Try casting jig and craw, squarebill crankbaits, spinner baits, chatter baits, and Texas rigged soft plastics. For smallmouth bass, there are two different strains in the Finger Lakes. According to Cornell University, the two strains are differentiated by their patterns. One group stayed its entire life within a square mile from where it was born. The second school over the course of each year may travel several miles up and down each lake. 

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Good areas to try for spring smallmouths are rock shoals, rocky points, submerged structures such as old cribs, etc. Try using suspending stickbaits, crankbaits, Ned rigs, Damiki rigs, in line spinners, hair jigs, and others. Some smallies on certain Finger Lakes may travel miles up major streams to spawn.

Summer Fishing

By the time summer rolls around on the Finger Lakes, most of the bass on the shallower northern and southern ends have probably finished spawning. Grass beds are merging well and the bait and bass are holding in the cover. Some of the deeper main lakes on the southern ends with colder water may still hold some spawning bass.

For largemouths, fish grass beds, docks, rock piles, and bridges with jig and craws, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, top water lures, Texas rigged worms, wacky rigs, Ned rigs and Damiki rigs. 

Smallmouths that come back after spawning will hit most of the baits mentioned above for largemouths. If live bait is your deal, try fishing drop offs with minnows and crawfish. 

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One of the most popular Finger Lakes for summer bass the past couple of decades is Cayuga Lake. On opening day of bass fishing season in 2022, Thomas Russell of NY broke the NY state smallmouth bass record on Cayuga with a fish that weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces. In 2024, James Britenbaugh of Pennsylvania broke the NY State largemouth bass record with a Cayuga fish that weighed 12 pounds, 6 ounces. 

The fish are generally very deep during the last stretch of summer. Finger Lake trout anglers who troll in deep water for lake trout informed me they have caught smallmouth bass in over 100-feet of water hanging off of schools of alewives. 

Fall Fishing

The nice thing about fall fishing on the Finger Lakes is the fact that most pleasure boaters are gone off of the lakes, and the not so serious bass fishermen have hunting on their minds leaving the lakes fairly unoccupied. 

Fishing during the late summer and early fall may find the fish still in deeper waters. Until the lakes cool off and experience turn over, try fishing for bass during early mornings and at dusk. 

When the waters cool, lures such as chatter baits, spinner baits, crankbaits, top waters, Texas rigged plastics, various jigs, and creature baits work well for largemouths. Try rocky shoals, docks, and timber where they were located earlier in the season.

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Smallmouths should be fished for areas near waters that drop off sharply. They may feed well during early and mid fall. But during the late part of the fall season they migrate out into deep wintering areas and can be harder to catch. Try vertical fishing deep with blade baits.

If you’re looking for some quality bass fishing in NY State, try fishing some of the Finger Lakes. One nice thing about this group of eleven lakes is the fact that if you get blown off one of the larger Great Lakes, you can usually still get in some quality angling for the day. There’s a good chance you may even catch a NY State record during your outing.

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