Today's fishermen have more time off and greater mobility than anglers of past generations. Doesn't it make sense for them to schedule trips so that they hit the best fishing waters in their neighborhood at the best possible times?

Admittedly, accomplishing that feat in New York requires some serious thinking, because residents of the Empire State have an astonishing assortment of lakes, rivers and streams to choose from.

To help Game & Fish readers get started, here's a hypothetical itinerary that will take wandering anglers to prime destinations for a variety of species in every month of the year:

JANUARY
Lake Trout: Fourth Lake
Tucked between the Adirondack tourist towns of Old Forge and Inlet, Fourth Lake is one of the likeliest places in the state to pull a lunker lake trout through the ice. During their electro-fishing surveys on the lake, New York Department of Environmental Conservation biologists have captured lakers weighing up to 30 pounds.

Besides lake trout, Fourth Lake also harbors rainbows and landlocked salmon. Look for all three species off Alger Island, the big one that's visible from the west shore.

Bluegills: Sodus Bay
Sodus Bay is a weedy, structure-filled, 3,000-acre cove on the Wayne County shore of Lake Ontario. In the winter, hard-water anglers can catch plenty of perch and pike in Sodus, but bluegills are the bay's bread-and-butter attraction. Ice-fishermen have no trouble taking heaps of them on teardrop jigs tipped with grubs.

Walleyes: Silver Lake
Wyoming County's Silver Lake is an ideal size for ice-fishing, at 761 acres, and its smorgasbord of residents includes a healthy population of 15- to 22-inch walleyes, in addition to northern pike, yellow perch and sunfish.

FEBRUARY
Landlocks: Schroon Lake
Although the state stocks landlocked salmon in the Schroon Lake watershed, DEC biologists say the lake is also home to wild salmon, descendants of fish planted in tributary headwaters more than 70 years ago. Regardless of their roots, many Schroon Lake salmon grow to a very respectable size, and ice-fishers often catch 4- to 6-pound fish.

Schroon Lake straddles the border between Warren and Essex counties. It's north of Albany via Route 87 and Route 9. Ice access is easy at state boat launches on the south end and on the west shore at Eagle Point campground.

Bluegills: Lake of the Isles
A deep slice in the east shore of Wellesley Island, Lake of the Isles is one of the best places along the St. Lawrence River to ice a mess of bluegills. It's on the American side of the mid-river border, but New York residents needn't buy a Canadian license before drilling a few holes.

Crappies: Whitney Point Reservoir
The social aspects of ice-fishing are vividly illustrated on the last weekend in January, when the annual New York State Crappie Derby typically draws close to 2,000 anglers to the frozen surface of Whitney Point Reservoir in northern Broome County.

MARCH
Yellow Perch: Keuka Lake
The Finger Lake that's shaped like a tuning fork, Keuka Lake rarely freezes over. That means perch-fishing fanatics who want to get after the lake's jumbo jacks when they are at their plumpest -- in late winter -- will have to do it from a boat launched at Penn Yan or Branchport.

Those who can endure the frigid temperatures will have a great opportunity to hook 12- to 15-inch perch on small minnows or grub-tipped jigs.