Fishing at Fitzgerald Pond, Lewis County, New York

• Overview

  Look for Fitzgerald Pond in Lewis County, New York. The water sits 853 feet up. This is a tiny water, and one quiet approach covers all of it. Our Lewis County list holds plenty of bigger water. Carthage lies 13 miles from the water. Beyond it, West Carthage at 13 miles and Philadelphia at 15 miles. Two sets of local rules meet not far from this water.

• Where to Fish on Fitzgerald Pond

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Records held for Lewis County cover white sucker, brown trout, pumpkinseed and brook trout. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Read Fitzgerald Pond for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 67°F in July and bottom out at 16°F in January. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around mid April. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid April in spring and again near early December in autumn. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Fitzgerald Pond follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. Part of this sits inside or beside Hogsback State Forest, so read the notices. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. The nearest alternative is Hogsback Pond, 0.3 miles out. Nothing here settles the position at Fitzgerald Pond for certain.