Onondaga Lake and River

[KeukaZ71]

i have fished almost every finger lake from cayuga west to conesus. but i have never fished east of cayuga. i am supposed to fish Onondaga lake this weekend. never been there before. i am targeting bass (largemouth or smallmouth. doesn't look like there is much shoreline structure for largemouth bass to get tight to shore. i like flipping jigs and spinnerbaits into shallow structures like trees and docks. does that work good up in the river instead? should i target smallmouths in the main lake too with a different technique?

[BudMan]

The only docks you'll find are in the river. The shoreline of the entire lake is undeveloped for the most part. There's the inner harbor on the south end that's full of pilons and a few areas that have riprap where roads run close to the water. The lake is usually gin clear and there's nice drop offs you can drop shot. The northwestern corner is a nice bedding ground that has some fallen trees along the shore. Water might be a bit tight in that corner in spots. It's not a big lake and easy to figure out. There's definitely some pigs in there since only the eagles eat those fish. The carp in there are monsters and if you find where they are in numbers the largemouth are usually mixed in with them.

[KeukaZ71]

thanks for the help. probably will target smallies in the main lake. i have lots of experience with smallies on the western finger lakes. is there any drop offs, points, or flats that smallies will relate to?

also, is the largemouth fishing any good up in the river?

[BudMan]

For smallies I'd throw spinner baits around some the points/small coves on the western side of the lake. Those large mouth should be around the northwestern corner waiting for the water to warm up in there. When they spawn that area is filled with nests. I bet they will be up in the river too. The river starts right up in the northern end of the lake so you can check all around there fairly quickly. If that corner of the lake warms up by then action should be good.