The Rainbow population is excellent, thanks in part to the Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation, who annually stock the lake with good numbers of Rainbow. The rainbows start hitting in late May, peak in July, and another peak in the Fall. The most productive method is trolling with spoons, lures, and rigs with night crawlers. Drifting with live bait works, and so does anchoring at night. Early season they are shallow, by July rainbows seek out the colder water area near the thermo cline, and occasionally coming up shallower to feed. Rainbows aren’t hard to catch if you have the right equipment; such as downriggers, planer boards, dipseys, jet drivers, snap weights, or lead core line. Early in the season they are pretty much scattered all over the lake, but summer hot weather forces them to run deeper, and seek the deep holes. Each year in August some of the rainbows make a run up area creeks for oxygen, possibly feeding on bait fish and then in September they return to the Main GSL and excellent fishing can occur.

                Rainbows tend to lightly school so its very common to get 2-4 on the same time. If you haven’t experienced this you don’t know what you are missing. This is fast great action at its best, fish jumping, screaming drags, and everybody yelling and shouting. I would recommend late May thru the third week in July for shallow rainbow action and then in the fall.