Duck Lake in Franklin County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Duck Lake in Franklin County, New York. Mixed forest runs right down to the water. This is sizeable water at about 316 acres, and a boat opens up most of it. With 3.8 miles or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. On our Franklin County list it sits near the top for size. Start from Tupper Lake, 7.7 miles down the road. The big place round here is Kingston, 101 miles distant. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Duck Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Franklin County records list brook trout, white sucker, brown trout and yellow perch among the fish reported. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Duck Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 64°F, the coldest about 13°F. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Break-up comes around late April, and the run that follows is short and strong. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late April and starts locking again about early December. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Time your trip to Duck Lake by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Saint Hubert Pond, 0.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Where Duck Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.