Largemouth Bass on the Bite in NYC

Some of the best fresh water fishing in New York City is located in an unassuming park on Staten Island name Silver Lake. The park was originally created as Staten Island's response to Manhattan's Central Park and Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

The lake in its current form was created in 1917 when water was piped in to fill it from the Ashokan Reservoir in Ulster County, NY. The original Silver Lake was a spring-fed body of water formed at the end of the ice age, and now makes up the southern basin of the reservoir at the site. The lake was originally called Fresh Pond, but by the middle of the 19th Century the name Silver Lake had come into use.

The striking thing about this lake and the surrounding park in comparison to Central Park or Prospect Park is the lack of people and abundance of wildlife, including ducks, geese and plenty of fish. The lake bottom is rock and the water is very clear. We started the day throwing lures but then switched to night crawlers and quickly hooked up with some sunfish and small bass.

But the real fun started when we spotted some large bass near the east side of the lake. The period of the spawn is one of the hardest times to catch bass, as when they are on their nest they are not feeding.

What they are doing is defending their nursery. So we tried throwing some soft plastics using a basic "Texas Rig" - piercing the hook point into the nose of worm and moving it back laying the hook to the side of worm to keep it straight and weed-free.

It took some time a patience to sight-fish the bass and eventually put the bait near the fish enough times to cause to strike. This happened at an amazing speed and the payout was well worth the effort.

As is the case in all NYC parks the fishing is catch-and-release, which we did, but only after a few quick snap shots of the fish.