Cross Lake

This lake has a large longnose gar, gizzard shad and white perch population. During July and August gar up to 45" can be caught here. The fishing is consistent in the middle of the summer and if you are looking for a different experience, this is a great place to get it!  There are some tremendous largemouth bass in this lake too.   It's a very different body of water than most lakes in Western NY and it's a challenge fishing it.   Lots of sand, plenty of deep water and relatively little weed growth combined with turbidity and a huge river influence - it all adds up to a very dynamic fishery.   I guide here primarily for just gar, though it's a fun place to learn how to vertically fish or "jump fish" with all the bait and white perch/bass exploding on them!

I didn't fish Cross Lake at all over the past 4 or 5 years.   The marina that I used to launch my boat at has closed, but now it's finally re-opened.    The lake coughed up some mega-sized smallmouth bass in 2009 and some giant walleyes were taken in the river system.   If I get time, I'll be fishing this lake a bit in 2010, but I don't see myself doing much of any guiding here - unless I run into a big school of gar. Overall I've been too out of touch with this fishery.