Big Pre-Spawn Smallmouths in Westchester County

Early spring on Lake Mahopac, NY

The first morning yielded several quality smallmouths. 

For once, I forgot my measuring board that morning and I really needed it. Although the fish dips in my lap, this smallmouth bass measured slightly over 21". It was my third qualifying species for the New York State Catch & Release Angler Achievement Award. I caught a total of three qualifying smallmouths that morning, including two smaller 19" smallmouths. 

Water clarity of about 5' on Mahopac. 

Some bass fishermen are smallmouth snobs. With the leaping ability of a salmon and the dogged attitude of a tautog, it is easy to see why someone could get hooked on these brown members of the bass family. In addition to providing great shallow water action along structure and dropoff's in the early spring, the smallies become almost semi-pelagic when the water becomes warm foraging on bait schools of baitfish in deep, open water.

For many years, I had a row boat on Cross River Reservoir in nearby Westchester County. Every spring, the pre-spawn smallmouth bass fishing would light up beginning in the last week of April and ending around the second week of May, when the bass would go on the spawn. During this time, the smallmouths schooled up tightly along dropoffs and fed heavily in anticipation of the spawn.

With lousy morning tides on Long Island, I decided to venture north to Westchester County to target pre-spawn smallmouths on Lake Mahopac. Typical of the area, Mahopac is a deep and rocky lake nestled in the hills of the Hudson Valley. There are several excellent smallmouth bass waters in a chain of lakes and impoundments in the higher elevation areas in downstate New York beginning with Mahpac moving east to similar smallmouth fisheries Cross River Reservoir and Sodum. The chains of lakes extend to western Connecticut with quality fisheries in Candlewood and Squantz.

Lake Mahopac is almost 600 acres and located closest to the Hudson River. Despite the size, I found I could easily cover almost the entire lake in a 3 - 4 hour trip. The two large islands make it a smaller lake.

I launched on Saturday morning at 9 am and fished until 12 pm. During that time, I caught 11 smallmouths from 15" to 21". In the mix were two 19" smallmouths as well and several that were around 17". I explored almost the entire lake from my kayak, and casted or trolled a good length of the shoreline and islands.

The smallmouths didn't appear to be on their beds yet. Everything I caught looked to be pre-spawn. These smallmouths were weighed down by their fat bellies when they went airborne after pulverizing my plug.

Small crankbaits were the order of the day. Trolling was the best method. Success was all about banging deep diving crankbaits into the rocks on the bottom. If the crankbait wasn't getting stuck, I wasn't hooking up consistently with smallmouths. The bass forage heavily on crawfish in Mahopac and orange was the magic color, out-producing minnow colors about 2:1.

I caught most of my fish in about 12', which was as deep as my crankbaits would run. The smallmouths were holding right on the edge of steep drop-offs, as close to the steep sloping shoreline as possible without getting too shallow. It looked like they were waiting below the edge for a quick meal. The fish were mostly schooled up and I found a nice school, and kept trolling back and forth. The fish were aggressive and hit about every pass. Eventually, I moved on and found a nice rocky flat and fished 4' - 8' and caught a few more casting.

On the way back to the launch, I found a submerged island that extended onto a big flat. While trolling, I hooked into a huge smallmouth that fought me for a few seconds and broke my 8lb flourocarbon. I would have really liked to see that fish. Unless I snagged a carp, it was likely an oversized smallmouth.

I ended the day catching a 17" smallie off the same structure and called it a morning at noon to make the one hour drive back to Long Island.

I got a later start the second day and fished from 12 pm to 3 pm. The school of smallmouths that I had found the prior day wasn't holding in the same area, and I could pull no smallmouths off the spot. I moved around considerably and had no success trolling. My only fish were caught casting crankbaits at the shoreline and fallen timber. A good amount of smallmouths were holding on the timber. The others were holding right on the edge of the dropoff, and often I could see the bass come off from the depths to the shallows and take the crankbait.

I caught fish all over the lake, but it was a slow pick with smaller fish and my biggest smallmouths of the day were 15" and 17". I caught 9 total smallmouths and a big 14" yellow perch.

The 22" smallmouth I caught on Saturday was my largest since 2008 and my third qualifying species for the New York State Angler Achievement Award. Once I hooked up, I knew I was into a very good fish. It gave me a dogged fight and quickly took drag as the fish ran deep and away from the boat. There is nothing like catching a big smallmouth - they fight like tog and jump like salmon.

During the 1990s, I travelled near and wide to fish for smallmouth bass. I have fished most of the better fisheries in NY, VT, and NH. The three most productive lakes I fished were Lake Memphremagog, Lake Oneida, and Lake Winnepesaukie. The best fishery by far was Lake Memphremagog. During the peak, the average sized smallmouth was 3 lbs and they were numerous, with a very good chance of catching some 5 lb - 7 lb smallmouths as well. I was impressed by the fishery at Mahopac. The quality and quantity of smallmouths reminded me of Lake Oneida based on the excellent fishing Saturday. The second day wasn't near that quality, but still quite productive and certainly on par with nearby Cross River Reservoir.

All fish caught and released. Here are some pics. For once, I forgot my measuring board on the first morning so had to improvise with the paddle for measurement.

This 14.5" yellow perch would have qualified for the NYS Angler Achievement Award but I already caught a qualifying perch earlier this season. 

Deep Pond

I got out on Deep Pond to target big chain pickerel and trout.

Deep Pond is a little kettlehole nestled in the woods on a boy scouts camp in eastern Long Island. The boy scouts limit the access to the pond to weekday use only with a NYS land access permit required. There are also some other restrictions as well. The only permitted access entails a quarter mile carry down a steep hill. It is a good idea to travel light for the haul back to the car.

Despite the time restrictions and difficult access, the pond is fished heavily. A cursory look at the sign-in sheet in the angler parking lot shows fishing activity of 2 – 4 fishermen per day.

Even though the pond is heavily fished, it is an excellent fishery for big pickerel, quality yellow perch, and the occasional holdover brown trout.

Pickerel is the biggest drawing card. The strict regulations and abundance of perch keeps Deep Pond one of the best big pickerel fisheries in the state. However, overfishing led to a drastic decline in the overall pickerel population. As a result, a no-kill restriction on pickerel is now imposed. This regulation is key to keeping this pond a trophy pickerel producer.

The deep oxygenated water of the pond and abundant perch population helps the stocked brown trout to holdover in Deep Pond. Occasionally, you will see thick pods of brown trout cruising the bottom on your fishfinder. Normally, these fish are foraging for food and actively feeding so try to get a presentation to them quickly before they move on. You will also see trout rise to late afternoon midge hatches as well. These fish are keyed into the hatch and will generally ignore other offerings.

With a late start, I wasn’t on the water until 4:30 pm and fished until dusk.

Over that time, I had a solid pick of quality fish working the drop-offs and structure around the little pond.

I caught and released four big chain pickerel, each between 22” and 24”.

I caught numerous yellow perch, but two quality specimens at 12” and 14.5” respectively. The latter qualifies for a NYS Angler Catch & Release Achievement Award. This is my second of the season and third qualifying NYS fish in two years (my others were chain pickerel and largemouth bass).

I caught all my fish working a Gulp paddletail on a lead head. I was working the lower half of the water column from the shoreline to 10’. Once my jig hit the bottom, the pickerel and perch would pick it up during the split second it was still. Usually, this occurred near the kayak.

For the second straight year, trolling for trout was unproductive. I used both a spinning rod and leadcore, neither of which yielded a hit. With the small size of the pond, it is difficult to get enough momentum for a good troll. For that reason, I recommend using leadheads here.

I caught no trout. At the end of the day, trout started rising on chironomids  and actively fed on midges until near dusk, when the dwindling light kept the hatch down. I didn’t have a fly rod, but actively worked these fish for about a half hour at the end of the day in 17’.

At one time, I marked a big pod of trout that moved through. This pod looked like a mini version of some of the readings I have seen on the Housatonic River or the Elizabeth River so it appeared as though they were actively feeding and directly under my kayak. So, I dropped my leadhead down to the bottom and started vertically jigging.  As soon as the jig hit the bottom, I lifted and got a solid hit, but I didn’t hook up. I quickly fan-casted the area, but it appeared as though the browns had moved on. The prior year, I had caught a big brown trout in the same area in the same situation.  It is a testament to the forage base and quality of fishing that I may have had a shot with holdover trout two years in a row. These were definitely not recent stockies, as it was a very good mark. I believe the lake holds a few trophy trout. Maybe if I had the entire day my result could have been different.

Otherwise , I only had a couple of light hits working the trout that were fixated on the midge hatch. Although the trout were slurping midges, I doubt I would have had much success if I had brought my fly rod and some midge patterns. The trout seemed to be mostly spooked by the kayak, and generally kept about 20’ away. I doubt I have the skill to cast a size 28 midge larvae 20’ sitting from the kayak.

At dusk, the hatch had stopped and the rising trout ceased, so I made my way back to the car. The carry back to the jeep was certainly a workout, but very doable and worth it. The more I fish this little pond, the more I want to come back.