Sylvan Lake
May 09, 2009 by
BooBee
Weather: Cloudy 73*
Water Temp: 65*
SYLVAN LAKE, NY -- Decided to visit a "new" lake today! There are tons of lakes in the area but many fall under the jurisdiction of state parks which require park permits so I decided to try Sylvan lake since it wasn't too far and it was new (I never been there before).
Arrived at the lake about 8:45AM and found the small parking and boat launch. During the peak season I'd suggest you get there early because if I had to guess I'd say maybe 6 cars fit in the parking lot; yes it's that small ("Early bird catches the worm"). The lake is a perfect circle shape and has about 90% of its shoreline consisting of a flat no deeper than 5ft that goes out a few hundred yards toward the center of the lake. So if you were to look for deep water 12FT or better you will have to troll almost to the center of the lake where it gets very deep. The boat access area is open to public, however for car top boats only!
Once I was on the water I had to decide where I wanted to go. I made a b-line right for the shoreline with trees and lay downs since I'm just comfortable fishing some kind of cover and/or structure. I was well into fishing by 9:15AM and couldn't find a bite for about 2hrs but I was moving a lot to get an idea of what the lake contour was like and depth. I finally realized the fish were in full spawn on the lake as I saw tons of them cruising around and sitting on beds. My first fish came off a bed that I force fed my Manns -1 crank.
By Noon I was on a pattern of fishing for fish that would be on beds or guarding beds. I started heading back in at 1PM and had hooked up with a total of seven fish for the day; not bad. I'm always satisfied with one fish per hour, more is always better and less is a tough day for me. All fish averaged about 2lbs with my biggest being 3lbs. I look forward to returning to this lake in peak season when sun is blazing and vegetation is in bloom. Half the fish hit the Manns -1 and the other half gently moved my senko (I saw the line move before I knew the fish had the bait).
Comments
May 09, 2009, 21:35:22 Dean wrote:
Hey Eric, I'm pondbass9787 on nybass. I've been checking out your site for a little while and I have to say I like the reports. I mostly fish small ponds, but now that I have a small boat I'm looking to try some lakes that are all pretty much new to me. I went to chadwick the other day and my friend caught a 2.5 lber, but besides that we didn't have much luck. I've been looking up sylvan lake and the contour map says its really deep. Is that wrong or does it really get to 140 feet deep? Also, is sylvan lake free to park at? thanks!
May 10, 2009, 09:11:09 BooBee wrote:
Chadwick is a really great lake in my opinion so don't give up on it. This time of year on Chadwick is the ONLY time of year I run the risk of being actually skunked on that lake because the fish go into what I call "cruising mode" where you see tons of them swimming shallow but they just don't bite.
Sylvan is a deep lake, however I never crossed the dead center of the lake. I was looking for the drop offs along the lake side when I realized it's nothing but flats along the shorelines with depths of under 5ft that extend from the shoreline to about 200 feet from shore before you see your first dip to about 12-15ft. There was only one spot I found near the shoreline that had a steep drop to about 25-30ft that was relatively close to the land. I only fished about 75% of the lake shoreline and these were my findings with very little vegetation visible.
Parking is free, however the parking lot is very small. You probably have a back yard that's bigger than the parking lot so on those hot days I'd say get out there early otherwise you risk no parking space.
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. I'll probably be out there again in about a month after I make my rounds to other lakes I fish. :o)
May 10, 2009, 11:33:13 Dean wrote:
Thanks! I'm def not giving up on Chadwick, I'm planning on going back there hopefully within the next week. I'm also planning on checking out Sylvan so I'll let you know how I do when I eventually get to go.
Add Comment
