New York bass water
The rivers DEC describes as smallmouth water, from the Susquehanna, Chenango and Chemung to the Mohawk and the Delaware below the trout water, and the big bass waters: the St. Lawrence, Lake Erie and the upper Niagara, Oneida, Chautauqua and Cayuga.
- Bass rivers
- 12
- Miles of river
- 729
- Big bass waters
- 5
- Boat & hand launches
Check before you fish. Access, stocking and regulations here come from New York's own data and can be out of date. Posted signs and landowners' wishes come first, and private land needs permission. The rules that apply are in the NYSDEC seasons, sizes and limits, and you need a valid fishing license.
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Public land is shoreline context; on the big rivers the water itself is open to fishing. Access sites are the agency's own.
Water types · New York
- Bass rivers
- Big lakes and rivers
- Public land
Legend & map details
How to read this map
Bass water, rules, access and sources
New York doesn't publish a map of its bass water, so this one follows DEC's own river pages: each river here is one DEC describes as smallmouth water, and only the part it names (the Chenango from Sherburne down, the Unadilla below New Berlin, the Canisteo from Canisteo down; the water above is trout water). The lines are the rivers' OpenStreetMap waterway lines. The Delaware below Narrowsburg is the border river's warmwater stretch. The big lakes and the St. Lawrence are points with DEC's notes.
Launches are DEC's statewide boat launch list; hand launches show as kayak and canoe launches. The black bass season opens in June, with catch-and-release fishing before it on most waters; see DEC's seasons and limits and any special regulations. There are no river gauges on this map yet.
The trout map for the state is at /ny/.
Sources
- Rivers and notes: NYSDEC river and lake pages (linked in each water's details). Lines: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
- Launches: NYSDEC boat launch sites. Public land: USGS PAD-US 4.1. Counties: US Census TIGERweb.
- Downloaded October 25, 2026. Map tiles: OpenFreeMap and OpenStreetMap contributors.
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