Lower Saranac

[Buckeyenut313]

I have a very last minute family trip planned to Lower Saranac next week. Does anybody have anything? I would prefer to target smallies. I have never laid eyes on the Lake and just found out today that we are going on Sunday.

Thanks!

[Bender]

You are in for a great trip! I lived in Saranac Lake for 9 months and just left this summer.

While I spent most of my time on Upper Saranac, the only downside to Lower is that parking at the launch is limited. The only public launch for trailered boats is at Second Pond on highway 3. There is a well marked channel going up to Lower Saranac from the launch, stay in the channel! There are big boulders just outside of the markers. Once you are on the lake I never had any trouble running anywhere. Just stay out away from points and steer clear of the hazard buoys.

In general fishing is very good on that lake. There are lots of smallies, perch, and pike. During the day I did best fishing deep, usually 15-30'. There are some great humps out there and a lot of underwater points with big rocks on them. Since it sounds like you are a good Ohio State fan shoot me a PM or email to chris@nemesisbaits.com and I'll send you a map that I'll mark up and some waypoints. 

Also from Lower you can go up the river to Middle Saranac or down the river to Oseetah, Kiwassa, and Lake Flower. The trip up river to Middle is worth it but schedule a whole day since it is about an hour and 15 minutes to get up the river. There are locks that you can run yourself if they are not attended. There are instructions posted and it's pretty easy. Get ready for a  great trip, I miss that place.









I forgot to mention that you will probably be the only person out there fishing for bass and there probably won't be much boat traffic at all. I wasn't there last summer but when I was out there I was usually one of the only boats on the lake.

[Bender]

I also forgot to mention that if you are heading into town and looking for a different place to eat check out www.eatnmeet.com . John is the owner and cook and Mike and him are big pike fishermen plus his food is fantastic. It's not very fast food since he cooks it to order but it's worth the wait and his specials are always good.

And the best ice cream in the world is up at Donnelly's Dairy Farm at the corner of 86 and 186 just north of town.

If you are interested in checking out any of the other lakes in the area let me know and I can give you some tips since some of them are hard to find like Lower and Upper Saint Regis/Spitfire, Tupper (easy to find), Fish Creek Ponds, etc. Lake Placid is 20 minutes away and is a pretty lake but bass fishing there sucks. You picked a great place to go on vacation! 

Also I'm not sure what dates you will be there but there is the annual "North Country Roundup" on Upper Saranac sometime the week of the 12th, usually on a Wed. A friend runs it and will be getting to the cabin on Upper on the 11th.  I can put you in touch with him if you will be there.