Stop immediately at the shoreline safety markers below the island and return upstream for another drift -- you don’t want to make headlines by having to be rescued from the falls. In fact, some experienced locals carry extra anchors for emergency stops!

The launch facility at Riverside Park, on River Road in North Tonawanda, provides access to this stretch.

HONEOYE LAKE
The Finger Lakes region is another one of those “takes all year” places to fish, with the spotlight on smallmouths. But for some hot fishing that’s a little different, Honeoye is the lake for largemouths. It’s the smallest of the bunch, at 4.5 miles in length, and also the shallowest and the weediest.

Working lures along submerged weedlines is recommended in spring and later on, as the extensive weedbeds reform in both ends of the lake. Hitting floating mats with weedless baits and flipping lures into openings will do the trick.

Honeoye is southwest of Canandaigua in Ontario County, with Route 36 and East Lake Road surrounding the lake. A public launch is off Route 36, near the south end.

CENTRAL REGION
Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake is probably the favorite Finger Lake for most bass anglers. It offers excellent populations of smallmouths and largemouths, and it’s a big lake. Fishermen can find productive water in nearly any weather.

Of course, the fish run big here.

At the north end, shallow, weedy, structure-filled water extends into the lake for about seven miles, approximately to Farley’s Point Since it warms first in spring, it’s a good place to start, especially for largemouths. A similar situation exists for about a mile on the south end.

That leaves 30 miles of a typically configured Finger Lake that favors smallmouths. With steep, rock-bound bottoms dropping to more than 400 feet, it’s essentially a shoreline fishery. The narrow, weedy stretches in bays and coves are a good bet in spring. But for the post-spawn period, bouncing lures along hard bottoms off points of land is recommended.

Cayuga Lake is south of Auburn with Route 38 on the west side, and routes 34 and 90 on the east. Off these roads, several well-marked state parks offer launch facilities.

Oneida Lake
A current favorite of professional bass fishermen, Oneida Lake has been at the top of New York anglers’ lists for decades. The late-breaking news, however, is that smallie numbers are growing, and the weedy shallows harbor some trophy largemouths.

At this time of year, bass will be found along weedlines and other structure around the extensive shoreline -- Oneida is about 21 miles in length. But the many shoals and reefs are the main attraction for most smallmouth anglers in this relatively shallow lake, with significant portions of water less than 25 feet deep.

The most famous rockpile is Shackleton Shoals, which is more than three miles in length in the middle of the lake off Shackleton Point.

Messenger Shoal, a much smaller hump northwest of Lewis Point on the east end, is also recommended.

The west end of Oneida Lake is shallower, with a couple of islands and several small shoals off the north shore, including Dakin Shoal, Grassy Shoal and Pancake Shoal.