Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Although the rules may soon change, current regulations prohibit New Yorkers from taking a crack at their favorite game fish before the third Saturday in June -- the opening day of bass season.

Approximately 30.4 percent of anglers interviewed during a 1996 survey commissioned by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation identified bass, either largemouths or smallmouths, as their preferred target species. Ranking next in popularity were the various trout (brown, rainbow, brook and lake) at a combined 26.5 percent, followed by walleyes at 11.1 percent.

Most waters in the Empire State historically have been closed to bass angling more than six months a year. Fishing for bass is prohibited from Dec. 1 through mid-June, with a few local exceptions, such as the spring trophy season in Lake Erie and the early catch-and-release season in the western Finger Lakes.

As a result, while first trout fishermen and then walleye specialists are turned loose to ply their trades in April and May, respectively; bass devotees can only sort through their tackle boxes and gaze wistfully at their secret fishing holes.

No wonder our lakes are so crowded in late June!

At this writing, DEC officials were reviewing a proposal to allow springtime bass fishing in the future. While we wait for their decision, here's a report on some of the state's top bass waters, to help New York Game & Fish readers get the 2005 season off to a fast start.

LAKE GEORGE
For tactical purposes, Lake George can be considered two fishing holes rolled into one. The deep, steep north basin seems to have been made with trout and salmon anglers in mind, while the shallower, weedier south basin is ideally suited for bassin' fanatics.

"Smallmouth fishing in the south basin is outstanding," said Rich Preall, the Department of Environmental Conservation Region 9 fisheries biologist who oversees management of Lake George. "Smallmouths of 2 to 3 pounds are common, and catches of 4- to 5-pounders aren't unusual."

Sometimes even bigger bronzebacks are hooked in the lake. During the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the standings in the bass category of the now-defunct Genesee Fishing Contest occasionally featured 6-pound-plus smallmouths from Lake George.

Such fish swim off Long Island, Diamond Island or Point Comfort, among many other likely spots.

Fishing for largemouths is also very good in the back bays of the south basin. Dunham's Bay, which is about four miles up the east shore from Lake George Beach State Park, is especially productive.

Lake George is in Warren County, north of Albany via Route 87 (the Northway) and Route 9N.

Anglers visiting Lake George must purchase a local boating permit before launching. Permits may be obtained at any of the private marinas around the lakeshore.

Public access is available at the DEC's Northwest Bay Brook launch ramp off Route 9N north of Bolton Landing.

THOUSAND ISLANDS
If you have fished in the upper St. Lawrence River for many years and still do things the way you always did, you're probably pining for the old days. But if you have adapted to changing environmental conditions, you'll agree that bass catching in the Thousand Islands is as good as ever. The river has changed dramatically in the last decade due to the powerful influence of invasive species -- zebra and quagga mussels, cormorants and round gobies.

The mussels, brought to the river in the bilge tanks of oceangoing freighters in the late 1980s or early '90s, filter vast quantities of phytoplankton out of the river, leaving its currents clearer than at any time in recent history.

While mussels were proliferating, so were cormorants. Tens of thousands of the diving birds nest on islands in eastern Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence, and they love the mussel-made water clarity because it makes it easier for them to catch up with smallmouth bass and other fish.