Area Sport Fishing Reports
Anchorage
Archived Sport Fishing Report
January 17, 2014
Winter Fishing Report: Anchorage Area
Date: 1-15 through 1-31
Regulation Reminders
• Jan 1, 2014 marks the start of a new licensing year. Remember to buy one prior to heading out on your next adventure.
• 2013 Sport Fish regulation booklets are valid through April 15, 2014.
• Licenses can be purchased at licensing vendors or online at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/store/
• 2013 Sport Fish regulation booklets are valid through April 15, 2014.
• Check page 4 of the Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing regulation summary booklet for legal ice fishing gear description.
• Anchorage Area regulations start on page 36.
Stocked Lakes
Fishing on stocked lakes has been marginal. Fishing typically slows down a bit in January. However, fish are still being caught. Exercising a little patients and moving around on the ice can lead to better catch rates. Try Jewel Lake or Cheney Lake. If you wish to target grayling in Anchorage, try fishing just off the dock behind Sand Lake Elementary in four feet of water.
Page 10 of the regulation booklet lists all the Anchorage Area stocked lakes. Lakes stocked with land-locked salmon (LS) and Arctic char (AC) are also stocked with rainbow trout (RT) and will likely have the highest density of fish.
Link to Anchorage-area stocked lakes page: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSport.region&StockingAreaID=2
Anchorage-area lakes ice thickness report:
http://www.muni.org/Departments/parks/Documents/IceTrailsStatus.pdf
Places to Take a Kid Fishing (easily accessible locations)
Mirror Lake, just north of Eagle River, is a great place to take kids fishing. The lake is full of hungry chinook and rainbow trout. The most effective way to take these fish is to use a small jig tipped with cured shrimp.
Here is a link to a map of Mirror Lake: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSport.lakeDetail&LakeID=332
Un-stocked Lakes
The adventurous type my want to ski into Rabbit Lake and try their hand at ice fishing for rainbow trout. This lake is stocked only once every three years. It was last stocked in 2012 with about 1,000 catchable sized fish.
Hot Spot
For a shot at northern pike, try Lower Fire Lake in Eagle River. Pike fishing has been steadily picking up. Pike fishing seems to be best from early morning (9 a.m.) till around 1 or 2 p.m. The key is to move around. Pike are being caught anywhere from 12 feet of water to 4 feet of water using small jigs and whole herring fished on a tip-up.
Fish Facts:
The famous Swedish naturalist, Carlolus Linnaeus was the first to describe arctic char from an alpine lake in northern Swedish Lapland in 1758. He named the fish Salvelinus alpinus, or “alpine char”. Learn more about Arctic char here: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=arcticchar.main