Top 5 pike lakes?

[Codyjames215]

I live in Pennsylvania and have only fished the st Lawrence River and absolutely love it. Only other lakes I fished was paradox and Schroon. So I can't really name a top 5. Lakes with size and numbers.  What is everyone's opinions?

[bigredonice]

Great Sacandaga Reservoir, Schroon,  Paradox, Fulton Chain, Meacham

[Codyjames215]

Forth lake on the Fulton chain I heard was great. Would love to visit it sometime.

[RIVERRAT2]

i am told by dec that silver lake in wyoming co has the numbers for pike
also told cross lake for the larger one???
these are by you?
 
RAT

[lakerman]

paradox ?

[bigredonice]

paradox ?

Paradox and Eagle both, TBH.

[Raquettedacker]

3rd lake Fulton Chain...

[jakep138]

cross lake has some beautys. I grew up on cross as my backyard, we typically seen lots of gar pike pushed up in the northeast corner of the lake with the northerns floating the rivers great numbers of them too.. oh and in case that gets old plenty of beauty eyes in there ...

[Raquettedacker]

And Delta always has a big one taken every year....   

[hot tuna]

Champlain, Saranac , Fulton chain , alcove res, and probably the Great Lake Ontario bays - SL seaway

[lowaccord66]

Paradox and Eagle both, TBH.

I am a fan of Paradox.

[pughole]

Lake George,Sacondaga Res,Tupper,LakeChamplain,Schroon

[HybridHunter]

Bigger the water, the more trophies they will hold. A large fish will deem around an acre as its own. So if you are choosing small waters, there's a chance there may only be a few big females roaming around. Also, fish in bigger waters handle pressure better due to people being more spaced out and the fish not seeing people setup in the same spots over and over again. Don't be afraid to venture off the beaten path, as you may be rewarded in a big way . Look up lakes with pike in them, do a little research, and break down which ones you wanna hit. Plan on a lot of time spent breaking down spots and figuring them out. The bigger fish may only be active a few times a week and just for a couple hours each time. So being there at the right time on the right day in the right location is key. Good luck.

[Spoondangler]

Lake George,Sacondaga Res,Tupper,LakeChamplain,Schroon

Always suprised I don't hear lake george come up more in the conversation.  I have seen some big pike in there, and Ive never fished more than halfway up the lake.  Hear far north end is the pike spot for #'s.

[Codyjames215]

I forgot to mention Champlain. I fished the north side in Vermont missisquoi bay. Fished for about 6 hours and caught 5 pike, 1 pickeral, and a massive smallmouth. Great time that was!

[pughole]

We have done well in a lot of the bays in the southern part.Don't fish much in the northern end. And some of the biggest were in 40 plus feet of water.Lake George has some good #s I think.

[deadsmelthead]

Being here in NY is tough being a pike ice fisherman , I actually had this conversation with FishNy the other day..We are blessed with probably the best Pike fishing in the Northeast in terms of quality fish..

If i was granted a wish to be able to Ice fish 5 lakes for Pike in NY each for 2 weeks at a time back to back for a season they would be..
Great Sac
Delta
Fulton Chain
Cranberry
Black

In my opinion thats how they rank in order also, Ill add Ive never fished the Sac or Cranberry but ive seen enough pics and talked to enough pike nuts to know where there is a good thing..I fish Delta and the Fulton chain pretty often, they are both trophy pike fisheries and are fairly close to home so its hard to want to go elsewhere..

But to put it in perspective, I have roughly 40 hours on ice targeting pike between these 2 lakes this season 10 pike under 30" couple decent ones lost at the hole and I watched FishNY haul out a 39 incher.. You just cant expect to walk out and catch a wall mounter lol, Ive had some seasons with multiple 40+ inchers and ive had seasons where i couldnt buy a fish over 35 inches.. Its just the way it is ...

[northernnyice]

Most fish? St lawrence river.

Biggest fish? St Lawrence river.

Most fishable water with ample opportunities at lots of pike and large ones? Not the st lawrence river. Lotta water and tough to target where the hell do you start lol.

Someone mentioned Meacham that had me giggling lol is there a pike left in there?

Definitely more opportunities for good pike fishing down state for sure.

[Longlegg]

I'd say Cranbery. Sacandaga, Coneseus, and big bays of Lake Ontario like Henderson, Chaumont,ect. Many other places ( even small lakes) occasionally produce a trophy but these areas do it regularly.

[Codyjames215]

Most fish? St lawrence river.

Biggest fish? St Lawrence river.

Most fishable water with ample opportunities at lots of pike and large ones? Not the st lawrence river. Lotta water and tough to target where the hell do you start lol.

Someone mentioned Meacham that had me giggling lol is there a pike left in there?

Definitely more opportunities for good pike fishing down state for sure.

What lakes in your opinion ?

[Teerod]

cross lake has some beautys. I grew up on cross as my backyard, we typically seen lots of gar pike pushed up in the northeast corner of the lake with the northerns floating the rivers great numbers of them too.. oh and in case that gets old plenty of beauty eyes in there ...

Cross Lake is a quick drive for me, not sure where to gain access though.  I imagine the ice isn't so good right about now.

[Codyjames215]

Are you talking further up st lawrence from Chippewa bay?I fished Chippewa bay once thru the ice (we fish st lawrence in open water a lot) and seen a bunch of pike under 32" pulled thru the hole. I did see one fish that had to be over 15lbs put up a hell of a fight and we didn't even see the fish. Had the fish close to the hole a few times without seeing it before  it went on more runs, last time it got close to hole we seen our sinker which was 18 inches from hook and our line snapped..

[ChenBassHead]

Saranac Chain
Fulton Chain
GSL
Conesus
Black Lake

[Creighster]

Most fish? St lawrence river.

Biggest fish? St Lawrence river.

Most fishable water with ample opportunities at lots of pike and large ones? Not the st lawrence river. Lotta water and tough to target where the hell do you start lol.

Someone mentioned Meacham that had me giggling lol is there a pike left in there?

Definitely more opportunities for good pike fishing down state for sure.

I have to agree about meacham, I giggled a little too.  I've put a decent amount of time on that lake for perch, splake, and bass. Was only ever bit off by a pike once, granted I've only ever fished the north end, the south end has a lot more weeds and I'm sure there's a few big ones in there but it still seams like a bizarre choice to me when you consider the reputation of some of the other lakes in that area for pike.

[Creighster]

For me it honestly would vary year to year. 5 years ago I would have said Quaker Lake is the #1 spot for pike. Nowadays I would probably rank Quaker Lake as the #1 WORST pike lake in the State! I've seen more pike come out of the 1 acre 4ft deep town park pond this year than I have the last 3 years at Quaker. Over fishing was a big part of it but IDK the pike population in there just absolutely collapsed. And Ik its considered a small water but there were some absolute monsters that used to come out of there; which I think was part of the lake's downfall, once those 20lbs started showing up in the local papers, and on the builtin board of the bait shops you can imagine the influx of relentless fishing pressure it created on the little lake.

Lower St. Regis lake behind Paul Smiths College is another one, never produced any 20lbs but my freshman year it was consistently producing pike in the 10-20lb range every time we fished there, everybody was nailing quality pike there that year. My sophomore year it turned into the dead sea, you were lucky to get a flag at all, same thing my junior year, it was only worth fishing if we wanted to get drunk and didn't have a DD. The pike fishing was finally a little better there last year but still nothing like freshman year, not even close.

At one point in time Ring-neck marsh was my favorite pike spot for good numbers of quality (10-20lb) pike. But I haven't fished there in over 5 years since our friend who used to live down the road moved, I heard they totally drained it a couple years ago, never heard if they refilled it, or if there are even still pike in there after that.

Never fished there but I've heard that Silver lake is also one of those smaller pressured lakes where the pike population seams to be on a 5 year cycle.

If I had to make a list right now of where I would choose to fish for pike balancing number and size.
#1-Lake Champlain  #2-Allegheny Reservoir #3-Lake Kushequa #4-Lower Saranack Lake  #5- Lower St. Regis lake/Osgood pond.
But that list is bound to change by next year depending on where I catch them this year if we ever get safe ice in WNY.

If I were strictly going after trophies 20lb+ and could fish anywhere in the state (hard water).
I would say #1-Allegheny Reservoir #2-Great Sacandaga lake (based strictly on reputation, never been there) #3-St Lawrence #4-Lake Champlain #5 Idk a big lake like George or Seneca.

Cranberry Lake has the reputation for big ones but its a tough lake, what it has in size it lakes in number. We drove down there and fished it 8 hours straight and never saw any evidence of a fish. The ppl that catch the 20lbs there are the people that really know the lake and its not a lake that you can learn in a weekend without a guide (as I learned the hard way).

I've seen plenty of trophy and quality pike come out of some of the rivers (even the really small tributaries) in WNY and the southern tier as well. Most notably, the Conewango/Allegheny River system and the upper Niagara River System, but these waters don't get safe ice.

[Adkrs]

I'll probably get yelled at by the few who know....but Oneida (and tribs)has big pike.  Catch them every year chasing cats. Nobody ever targets them though. Probably why they get to a nice average size. Those that target them don't really talk about it 

With that said...I'll be on Champlain   

[lowaccord66]

Champlain is well known for numbers but having fished for them exclusively in open water I can say there are some really nice pike in thay lake.  Its seems to me its easier to target the larger ones in open water rather than ice.  Ice your forced to cull through the smaller pike...

I have ice fished Sac once....it wasn't a gread day for me but the friend I was fishing with got ine around 13lbs and one around 18lbs first time on the ice there. 

[duke14]

probly not one of the top 5,but Long Lake has some nice ones,i personally saw one that had to be in the 40,s,had I
him hooked but he broke me off at the boat,had a lot of fun with them last summer,smashin top water!

[rochardwater25]

What is everyone's favorite pike waters up north?

[HybridHunter]

There have been numerous threads very recently on this subject. Just got back a few days.