the last two weeks I've only finished the lakes in New York City. The Great Lakes of New York City are made up of 12 lakes located in
Parks managed by the department of Parks. there are approximately 30 lakes in total in New York City. I have fly fished in the infamous South Bronx at Indian Lake. the lake has a healthy
population of LM bass, BGs and carp. the northernmost lake is located in the Van Cortland Park. According to the Parks Department this lake has been restocked. However, during my first visit there I was only able to catch one perch. But I did see about a dozen large mouth bass swimming under fallen trees.
In Queens there are four lakes the largest of which is located at the site of the old world's fair. Flushing Lake is the largest lake in the city of New York at 100 acres. The lake has yet to recover from the snakeheads that were found there several weeks several years ago. Baisley pond, near JFK Airport has smallmouth bass and largemouth bass as well as catfish and other panfish. Currently the pond is undergoing rehabilitation work that will not be completed until 2011. My favorite Lake in Queens is located in Bayside New York and is called Oakland Lake. Oakland Lake has a population of bass, carp, pickerel,crappie and BGs. The only drawback to Oakland lake is its lily pads . The smallest Lake is found in Kissena Park. Kissena Lake has panfish like bluegills, Crappie, bass and carp .
Staten Island has three places to fish. There is clove Lakes Park which has channel catfish, bluegills, bass and big carp. Wolfes Pond Park is located near the Atlantic Ocean. In fact it is possible to fish for largemouth bass and striped bass by simply walking about 50 yards.
on Thursday I managed to find a school of Crappie that could not resist my small #8 deceiver fly. Most of the fish I caught were a legal size(more than 9 inches). this Lake has a healthy population of bass, BGs carp and musk rats! the Lake also suffers from too much algae in the warmer months. It is a wonderful place to hike, mountain bike, or lay in the sun. The third place to fish in a Staten Island park is silver lake. there is no access to this reservoir except from a cross road. so it is more like fishing from a pier but there are huge LM bass in the crystal clear water of silver lake park.
The best part of fishing the NYC parks fisheries is that they can all be reached by public transportation.
Bill
