New York

Canadice Lake is the smallest and highest of New York's Finger Lakes, 649 undeveloped acres of City of Rochester watershed water ringed by forest instead of cottages. A roughly 10-horsepower cap and a compact 95-foot basin make it arguably the best float-tube trout lake in western New York.

Chazy Lake spreads 1,807 acres beneath Lyon Mountain in the northern Adirondacks, a cold, largely undeveloped two-story lake holding lake trout, a huge stocked rainbow trout population, and rainbow smelt forage. Its shallow 33-foot mean depth keeps fish within fly-rod reach far later into spring than most Adirondack lakers waters.

Cranberry Lake is a 6,995-acre impoundment of the Oswegatchie River on the edge of the Five Ponds Wilderness, and one of the largest brook trout waters in the eastern United States. Shallow, tannic, and rimmed by miles of roadless Forest Preserve shoreline, it is classic Adirondack canoe-and-fly-rod water.

Hemlock Lake is one of the two undeveloped 'wild' Finger Lakes, an 1,800-acre Rochester water-supply lake ringed by forest instead of cottages. A roughly 10-horsepower cap keeps it a small-boat and float-tube fishery for stocked lake trout, rainbows, and browns.

Lake George is New York's flagship two-story coldwater lake, 28,451 acres of gin-clear Adirondack water with 82 miles of shoreline between Lake George village and Ticonderoga. Wild lake trout, stocked landlocked salmon, and outstanding smallmouth bass make it the state's premier big-lake fly fishery.

Lake Placid is the Adirondack High Peaks' signature trout lake, 2,173 acres of clear, cold water at 1,858 feet beside the famous Olympic village. Wild, naturally reproducing lake trout — this water once held the New York state record — share the lake with heavily stocked rainbows, browns, brook trout, and smallmouth bass.

Otsego Lake is James Fenimore Cooper's Glimmerglass, a 4,046-acre natural lake at the head of the Susquehanna that runs 167 feet deep and holds lake trout, brown trout, cisco, lake whitefish, and smallmouth bass. Cooperstown sits on its southern shore, making this the rare literary landmark that also fishes well at ice-out.

Schroon Lake is a nine-mile ribbon of Adirondack water straddling Warren and Essex counties, 4,107 acres of smelt-rich habitat for landlocked salmon, lake trout, and smallmouth bass. Its ice-out salmon fishery around the Schroon River inlet is one of the best fly-rod windows in DEC Region 5.

Skaneateles Lake is the clearest of New York's Finger Lakes, an 8,960-acre glacial trench of drinking-water-quality water with visibility past 26 feet. Wild lake trout, stocked rainbows, and landlocked salmon cruise its shale shelves, making it the premier sight-fishing stillwater in central New York.

Stillwater Reservoir is New York's signature splake water, 6,195 acres of shallow, stump-studded flowage in the western Adirondacks at the end of a 28-mile road. Averaging barely six feet deep, it keeps its fish within reach of a fly line all season, and DEC reports splake topping 20 inches.