Reports

I got a chance to check out Hemlock Lake for the first time Sunday thanks to an invite from Burr, who was with me on Keuka a couple weeks ago. We were trying to figure out the lake trout using his boat.

The lake experience is #1 on the Finger Lakes for sheer wilderness. No development except for the filtration plant on the north end. ZERO cottages! Nice and quiet! Tough restrictions here – no more than a 10 hp. outboard, boat must be 16′ or less, permit required to fish(easy to obtain.) Not a nice day weather-wise out there – cold, misty and rainy.

We tried motoring around for a little bit checking things out with the depthfinder. The west side of the lake features a few points that don’t seem to protrude much. Steep shorelines ring much of this lake. Didn’t mark many fish on the bottom -at least not in the same way as I would on the other lakes. The depthfinder transducer was a suction-cup mount and once we had it level we could mark “hooks”. We did mark some suspended fish. A fair number of fish were jumping too. Smaller fish – not sure what they were.

We worked a lot of different depths – from shallow to deep. No definite hits. As we worked further south we found some very nice flats and good lake trout areas. Lots of bait and fish marks too! Burr had a couple fish chase his jig and spoon up a ways but nothing very aggressive. I had a rainbow trout or a salmon chase a spoon back to the boat.

Before we knew it, it was time to go. On the way back we checked out the east side. Better points and nice shelves! My guess is that many of the lakers might be around spawn mode. I’d fish the points next time and continue working the south end. Beautiful flats and a creek mouth with deep water nearby down there! Lots of great fly-fishing areas too. I don’t think it would be hard to catch rainbows or salmon here casting streamers in the spring.