How many trout can I keep on Keuka?

Five trout and salmon in combination, 15 inches minimum, with no more than one rainbow or three Atlantic salmon (DEC Finger Lakes regulations).

When can I keep bass on Keuka?

From June 15 to March 15 (12 inches, 5 per day); from March 16 to June 14 bass are catch-and-release with artificial lures only.

Where do Keuka rainbows spawn?

DEC says mostly in Cold Brook at the south end and in Guyanoga (Sugar) Creek at Branchport. Finger Lakes tributaries are closed January 1-March 31 except for listed sections.

Is fishing good at Keuka Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Keuka Lake Fishing Report Today (October 2026)

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Close to Vermont's 53-66°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

Landlocked salmon

Spring and fall near the surface, deep in summer, and under the ice in winter

Landlocked salmon are Atlantic salmon that complete their whole life in fresh water, feeding mainly on rainbow smelt in cold lakes of Maine and the Northeast. Spring after ice-out and the fall cool-down are the surface seasons, with fish near shore and at stream mouths feeding on smelt: troll or cast streamers and smelt imitations.

Keuka Lake Fishing Report

Today's Fishing Report

The plan, species by species

Before you go

Water and weather

Flow, last 30 days

Today’s flow against 61 years of October 23

Right now

Bite planner

Which day to fish Keuka Lake this week

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Species guide

Lake trout

Smallmouth bass

Northern pike

Yellow perch

Largemouth bass

Crappie

Rainbow trout

Brown trout

Landlocked salmon

When to come: the Keuka Lake calendar

Species activity by month

Water temperature through the year

Angler reports

Water log, last days

Before you go

License

Regulations

Access

About this water

Fishing Keuka Lake: the full guide

The lake

Salmonids

Warmwater fish

Common questions

Nearby waters

Where this page's numbers come from