Fan Favorite Fishing Spots in Madison County
Find Your Perfect Escape
Finding the perfect pond, lake, riverbank, stream, bridge, or local fishing hole is a beloved tradition, and Madison County offers an amazing variety of the best public fishing spots to experience.
Cazenovia Lake
In this beautiful lake, you’ll find largemouth bass commonly in the 15-inch range (up to 20-inches), along with chain pickerel. A sunken island (or hump) about halfway up on the east side is a good location for bass. Try the north end of the lake for ice fishing for black crappie and bluegill (both around during the day), but fish after dark if you’re trying for crappie, keeping in mind that McNitt State Park closes at 9:00 PM. Yellow perch are harder to find, but often run in the 10- to 12-inch range. Rock bass are plentiful and grow large in the lake. Anglers can also find smallmouth bass, an occasional walleye, pumpkinseed sunfish, and brown bullheads. Cazenovia Lake was chosen as one of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Big Panfish Initiative waters and has a special regulation for sunfish (bluegill and pumpkinseed) of a daily limit of 15 fish, with a minimum length of 8-inches.
DeRuyter Reservoir
Trolling for walleye can help you find this elusive fish on the lake. You’ll find largemouth bass in large numbers (many in the 14- to 15-inch range), along with chain pickerel (use a wire leader if fishing around vegetation). Anglers also visit the lake for smallmouth bass, black crappie, pumpkinseed sunfish, bluegill, rock bass, yellow perch, and brown bullhead.
Oneida Lake
This lake is rich in fish life and is best known for its walleye and yellow perch fishery. For walleye: try shallow water near tributaries in the spring, deeper water in summer, and the shallows again in fall. Great walleye fishing can be found from shore, after dark, when they are shallow with stickbaits and blade baits. You can also find walleye ice fishing around shoals, drop-offs and deep-water flats. Ice fish for yellow perch around deep-water flats in 30-40 feet of water.
Lebanon Reservoir
Lebanon Reservoir is home to a two-story fishery with rainbow trout as the main cold-water gamefish, and largemouth bass the main warm water species. Anglers normally target the trout shortly after spring stocking, as well as during ice fishing in the winter. Ice fishing for panfish like yellow perch and bluegills is also popular. Black crappies caught through the ice are rarely over the legal length. Largemouth bass in the 12 to 14-inch range are plentiful, and some 20-inchers are caught each season. The reservoir also contains walleye, pumpkinseed sunfish, rock bass, and brown bullhead.