18Aug

Black Crappie

Black crappies average eight to twelve inches in length and are easily recognized by their highly compressed, diamond shaped bodies. They are dark green to golden brown in color, with mottled patches of dark scales. Typical sunfish, black crappies spawn from May to July. The nests are built in ten to 24 inches of water [...]
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18Aug

Rock Bass

Rock bass are most abundant in rocky and gravelly shallow water areas in lakes and ponds, and the lower, warm reaches of streams. Rock bass are small to medium sized sunfish, reaching six to ten inches in length. They are brownish in color with several dark bars or blotches mottling their sides. Their bright red [...]
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18Aug

Small Mouth Bass

Smallmouth bass are one of New York State's most important gamefish. They are famous for their fighting ability when hooked and have the reputation for being, inch-for-inch, the best sporting fish around. Smallmouths are probably the most cold water adapted species of sunfish. They prefer cool, clear water areas of lakes and flowing streams with [...]
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18Aug

Large Mouth Bass

Largemouth bass are another major sportfish in New York State. While they are not the spectacular fighters their cousins the smallmouth are, largemouths can be just as challenging and exciting to land because of the habitat they prefer. Largemouths thrive best in warm, shallow, well-vegetated areas of ponds and sluggish streams. They are rather solitary [...]
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18Aug

Pumpkinseed

Of all the sunfish in New York State, the pumpkinseed is the favorite of children. It is one of the most catchable of all freshwater species, occurring in large numbers in shallow water close to shore and readily biting small pieces of bait. Pumpkinseeds have similar feeding habits to other true sunfish. They eat a [...]
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18Aug

Blue Gill

Bluegills are generally found in slow moving or standing water where there is plenty of vegetation or other shelter. They are a pretty fish, green to brown on their backs and upper sides shading into brown, orange, or pink with traces of vertical bars along their bottom sides. The breast is yellow to copper-orange, and [...]
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18Aug

White Perch

Seldom reaching more than 12 inches in length, white perch are the smallest members of New York State's true bass. They are easily told apart from other true bass because white perch have no dark stripes and no patches of teeth on their tongues. White perch are prolific breeders. Schools of spawning white perch crowd [...]
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18Aug

Rainbow Trout

Natives of the Pacific Coast, rainbow trout were introduced into New York waters in the 1870s. Like brown trout, rainbows are more tolerant of warm water than the native trout and are found throughout the State. Rainbow trout are often very colorful fish. They have gray-blue to greenish backs and light colored sides with dark [...]
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18Aug

Brown Trout

The brown trout has long been a popular game fish all over the world. Brought over from Europe in the 1880s, brown trout can be found in waters all across New York State. Its ability to tolerate warmer water than either of New York State's native trout has allowed this species to do well in [...]
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18Aug

Lake Trout

Like the brook trout, the lake trout is a native of New York State waters. This silvery or dark grey fish inhabits deep, cold, well-oxygenated lakes. Lake trout are long-lived, with some adults reaching more than 20 years old in certain waters. The current New York State record lake trout weighed more than 39 pounds. [...]
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