Honeoye Lake

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Tenth in size among the eleven Finger Lakes, Honeoye Lake is located 28 miles south of Rochester in southwestern Ontario County.

Physical Features:

Elevation: 804 feet
Area: 1,772 acres
Length: 4.5 miles
Maximum width: 0.8 miles
Maximum depth: 30 feet

Water Quality:

The principal use of Honeoye Lake is for water-based recreation. While Honeoye's deepest waters are not completely oxygen-saturated during summer due to decomposition of abundant plant materials, oxygen levels are sufficient for fish life. At times water clarity is impaired by algae blooms.

Plant Life:

Rooted aquatic vegetation is generally abundant in nearshore areas of the lake, and out to a depth of about 15 feet. Eelgrass, pondweed, Eurasian milfoil and water stargrass are the predominant plant species.

Public Access Sites:

Honeoye Lake Public Boat Launch- Located at the SE corner of the lake off East Lake Road. Parking for 30 cars with trailers. Operated by the office of the Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Winter maintenance allows for ice fishing Access.

Sandy Bottom Beach - Launching is available for small trailered boats, cartops and canoes off Sandy Bottom Road, at the NW corner of the lake, Lakeside parking allows for about 6 cars. There is additional parking near the baseball diamond. Operated by the Town of Richmond. Winter maintenance allows for ice fishing access.

Fish Management:

Modern fisheries management at Honeoye Lake began with the placement of seasons, bag limits and size limits on gamefish. Records indicate that Honeoye was first stocked with walleye around the turn of the century. Today, the co-dominant sport species are walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and chain pickerel with walleye the only species stocked (8.7 million fry annually) into the lake by the DEC

Honeoye is a highly regarded fishing lake. In addition to its excellent sportfish opportunities, the lake also supports an outstanding panfish fishery for bluegill, pumpkinseed, yellow perch and black crappie.

Current management emphasis for Honeoye Lake is to maintain a relatively high density of predator species, to control the abundant panfish and newly established alewife populations. Periodic fishery surveys are conducted to monitor fish populations. An ongoing angler diary cooperator program for sportfish provides DEC fisheries staff with useful data on population trends. If you are interested in signing up as a cooperator, please contact the DEC Region 8 Office.

*Info taken from [WWW]NYS DEC website