Pick and Indian River Lake

[BlueSnow]

After our very successful trek up to LOTI and Red Lake last year we are going to be heading back up to that neck of the woods this year.  While the water is still in a liquid form down by me I have spent a decent amount of time looking around at material on the whole Indian River Lakes chain and I was wondering which one is the best.  Red lake was awesome last year for us but curious how everyone else ranks the lakes and which one you would pick to fish off of if you had just one afternoon to do it.  Appreciate the thoughts!

[BlueSnow]

Well I was up with my brother and we were attempting to get onto Hyde on Monday and it was a charlie foxtrot.  We came in off of NY26 and made the left onto Wilson and followed that until it hit the campground where there was a hand written sign at the entry saying that there was no public fishing and that cars will be towed.  So we ventured back out to 26 and followed it along to the north end of the lake where we hit a bunch of private roads with no access. 

After that we drove around the west and south end on Hyde Lake road - again no access. 

Per DEC:  DEC beach access launch site of Route 26, 3 miles northwest of the Village of Theresa.  10 hp limit.

Wasting a morning screwing around looking for the access that is clearly marked on a map but without any signs on site is a great way to ruin a day.

[BlueSnow]

Aggravation continues - Mud Lake

After the failures at Hyde Lake we decided to try Mud Lake (http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/mudlkmap.pdf) with the same result - inability to find access.  This time we drove up NY37 through the village and the only spot that might have provided access was behind the gas station and bar.  We could see ice on the lake but where we assumed the access to be was open water/marsh and again with no markings.  Circle the lake on the East side on 37 and then cut over on Pine, up 1st and then around on County routes 192 and 3.  No dice.

[BlueSnow]

Aggravation continues - Clear lake

Were we smart enough to give up....nope.  next we tried Clear lake (http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/clrlk2map.pdf).

This time we came in off of Clear lake Road which does appear to end at a boat launch (the road goes right into the lake) and there was one of the DEC signs about invasive species but there wasn't any place marked for parking and (I think) the roads were marked as private.  The Lake was slush by the ramp but it looked like there were a few shanties out on the far (east) side.  We drove back out to 26 and then came in Simpson - again no luck finding access as all of the roads on that side were all marked private.

[BlueSnow]

Next up Butterfield lake

We finally found an access point....but there was no ice.  There was a nice hardtop launch at the southwest corner of the lake but we would have needed a boat to get out, but at last we found a place to park and to get on once cold weather arrives.

NY37
right on Stine
Right on Butterfield

[BlueSnow]

Marginal success - Millsite Lake

Same situation as with Butterfield - open water but at least we were able to find the access:

NY37
Right Cottage Hill Road

[BlueSnow]

So I broke this down into each of the different lakes in case it is ever useful for anyone else.  It's about a 4 hour drive from my house up to Redwood and while I had a place to stay in Mexico it still ends up being a lot of time in the truck and in this case with very little to show for it.  A lot of the issue is that I had expectations of going out to fish and ended up primarily reconnoitering the area which would have been easier in the summer when there were more people out and about to talk to. 

We were originally going to hit up Hyde because it is the closest to the interstate and based on reports it had decent ice, but the whole adventure, at the time, felt like a waste of my day.

I'm most disappointed by the lack of signage from the Towns and state where access is allegedly provided than in burning the gas checking out the area.

[mdm25549]

Hyde lake public boat launch and access on north end off 26. Funda Rd. There is a NYS DEC typical brown sign on at the beginning of the road on 26. Not sure if you just missed it or not. Was there the other day

[BlueSnow]

Hyde lake public boat launch and access on north end off 26. Funda Rd. There is a NYS DEC typical brown sign on at the beginning of the road on 26. Not sure if you just missed it or not. Was there the other day

Clearly we we missed it - thanks for the information if we venture out that way again I will check it out.  The DEC Map shows the launch site at the south-east side.

Thanks for the response and for letting me know.

[mdm25549]

No problem. If you gps to Funda Rd Theresa NY if you head back that way it’ll bring you right there

[BlueSnow]

Decided to make the drive up to Redwood this weekend to close out my season. 

Butterfield - lots of open water near the launch in town
Millsite - you need to take a big step but we got on and fished (blindly) and randomly ended up in 65 fow - from there we worked into the shore and were hitting dink perch in about 28fow.  Ice was 12" half white and half clear
Hyde - Accessed from the state area (which we found!) and walked out to the left drilling holes as we went.  Caught a perch in 20fow and drilled holes along the cliffs heading north.  A couple other small perch and that was about it.  The access road coming in was deeply rutted frozen mud and was more a case of just holding on rather than actually steering the truck.  Didn't need four wheel drive.

We didn't do well in either lake but going in blind I didn't have too many expectations.  I drilled a lot of holes and we covered some ground but much more research would be required.  Also telling was that we only saw 2 other groups out at either lake.  A sign of poor fishing or there being better safe options nearby...