Skaneateles Lake

Skaneateles Lake is one of the Finger Lakes, and its southern end reaches into Cortland County. It is a popular lake for paddling and fishing, with clear water and steep shores that give kayakers and other paddlers a quiet, scenic day on the water, as long as they come prepared.

Paddlers should wear a life vest, since much of the southern shoreline is sheer cliffs with no beach to swim to if a kayak overturns. Anglers will find lake trout, rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon, smallmouth and largemouth bass, walleye, chain pickerel, yellow perch and more. Experience Cortland features the lake.

What to Know

• Wear a life vest, since there is no beach to swim to along much of the southern shore.
• Lake trout, rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon swim in the lake.
• Smallmouth and largemouth bass, walleye and yellow perch are also found here.
• The village of Skaneateles sits at the lake’s north end.
• The lake supplies drinking water to the city of Syracuse.