G Lake Fishing in Hamilton County, New York
Hoffmeister Area

My father and I stumbled upon G Lake via the 2 mile seasonal road north of Route 8. Once at the end of the seasonal road, you hike to the lake (approx. .35 miles) where you'll find a couple of campsites. There was a small stream or spring the feeds into the lake just east of the campsites. We caught brook trout at the mouth of the stream, but they seemed to have a specific feeding schedule. We got to the lake at the end of their mealtimes one night and again the next morning. We also caught yellow perch and a bullhead. Next time we plan on getting a canoe and exploring the rest of the lake.

G Lake is a brook trout paradise! Having read Mr. Percival’s comment I thought I should provide a little history that might prove of interest to anyone who lives to catch brook trout. About fifty years ago my Mom and Dad and I were the guests of Mr. Henry Lenz who owned G Lake and the surrounding acreage. At that time, there were three buildings adjacent to the inlet. The largest was a two story log structure that faced the narrows and outlet that could hold about 50 people – in a master bedroom, two private guest bedrooms and a bunk room. Slightly to the rear of that structure was a small concrete building that held the generator that supplied necessary power as well as a small apartment for the property caretaker. The third structure was on the other side of the inlet (the North side) and was built primarily for small hunting parties. At that time we actually drove to the lake through the woods and across a small creek bed and up a slight incline and through some more woods until we reached a point where we were looking down at the lake and buildings from a slight rise. The distance from Route 8 was about a quarter of a mile or so. Wildlife seemed to be everywhere. I remember seeing a bear at the G Lake garbage site and deer were quite plentiful – it was not unusual to see a herd of about half a dozen near the lake inlet just about every morning. And then there was the loon that made getting to sleep every night more than just a little interesting. But the proverbial frosting on this outdoors pastry had to be the trout. I’ll never forget that day when Henry Lenz took me fishing. We got into a rowboat near the inlet and he started rowing and had gone about 20 feet when I started to put my line in the water and was told that the big fish were not on the inlet side of the lake during the summer. He went on to say the big fish feed on the inlet side during the spring and that they could be caught on a straight line from the narrows to a boulder which was located to the right of the outlet. Was he ever right! Having reached the narrows we both put lines in the water and almost immediately had a double strike. The funny thing was that because these brook trout were only 13”, Henry suggested that we return them to the lake because they were small. I thought that a 13” trout was extraordinary, but was I ever wrong! Before we ever got near the boulder that he was rowing towards, I had caught five brook trout ranging in length from 16” to 19” (with girths of about 9”) and, oh yes, the biggest managed to get away. It’s that fish that has haunted me all these many years – it had to have been at least 23” and when I had it next to the boat I was so excited that without waiting for Henry to net it I pulled the line up and this monster dropped off and disappeared. Needless to say, as a result of this catch, some friends and neighbors in Gloversville had a dinner that they would never forget. Although I cannot vouch for the fish population in G Lake today, I would like to think some big fish still lurk in its waters.