Summit Lake in Broome County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Summit Lake falls in Broome County, part of New York. It sits at 1,690 feet above sea level. Small at around 17 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. Start from Deposit, 6 miles down the road. For a city, Syracuse is 79 miles off. Other water nearby: Laurel Lake out at 1.7 miles, Blueberry Lake a shade over 2.1 miles, Oquaga Lake out at 2.9 miles, Fly Pond a shade over 3.4 miles and Deer Lake out at 4.2 miles. A county boundary sits nearby, which can matter for local access rules.

• Where to Fish on Summit Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. County-wide records name smallmouth bass, common carp, brown trout and rock bass. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. On Summit Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 67°F, with January the cold end at about 21°F. Winter shuts the surface down for months. The lid usually goes in early April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The open-water window runs from around early April to about mid December in an average year. Spring is short and heavy here; autumn is longer and steadier. At Summit Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. Recorded parking is half a mile off, far enough to travel light. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Laurel Lake sits 1.7 miles off and takes the overflow. Treat access at Summit Lake as something to verify.