Clear Lake Fishing Guide, St. Lawrence County, New York

• Overview

  Clear Lake sits in St. Lawrence County, out in New York. Everything around it is lake country bush. The water covers some 29 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The town to know is Hannawa Falls, 12 miles out. It is 70 miles to Gloucester, the nearest city. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Clear Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Survey and observation records for St. Lawrence County include rock bass, smallmouth bass and pumpkinseed. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. Clear Lake gives up its fish to patience rather than distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 67°F and January about 14°F. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around mid April. Climate averages put the opening at about mid April and the closing near early December. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Clear Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Bullhead Pond, 0.9 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Signs at Clear Lake carry more weight than any list.