Sly Pond, New York: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  You will find Sly Pond in Hamilton County, New York. It sits at 2,077 feet above sea level. Surface area runs to about 8 acres — small enough to read in one session. Our Hamilton County list holds plenty of bigger water. Tupper Lake lies 20 miles from the water. Then Saranac Lake, 36 miles, and North Elba, 39 miles. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Sly Pond

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. 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 Hamilton County include lake trout, brook trout, yellow perch and smallmouth bass. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. Sly Pond gives up its fish to patience rather than distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 64°F in July and bottom out at 13°F in January. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. Ice-out usually falls in late April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. From about late April to around early December, expect open water on the long-run figures. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Time your trip to Sly Pond by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. For a change of water, Rob Pond is 0.6 miles distant. What applies at Sly Pond may have changed since it was mapped.