Tanana Drainage Management Area
Fishing Opportunities

Tanana Drainage Stocked Lakes

Description

There are over 90 stocked lakes in the Tanana drainage, ranging from large road-accessible lakes such as Quartz and Birch, to lakes with small public use cabins like Lisa Lake and Ken’s Pond, to secluded, remote fly-in or ATV-access only lakes like Dune and Forrest lakes.  These lakes are all stocked with one or more different fish species.  The most common species is rainbow trout, other species include Arctic char, Arctic grayling and landlocked king and silver salmon. Remote lakes provide a greater opportunity to catch large “trophy” fish, whereas roadside lakes will have high success rates, but smaller fish, making them a popular destination to take young anglers.  State Division of Parks places public-use ice houses on some of our Interior stocked lakes when ice is thick enough to support a heavy vehicle (usually early November).   Many remote lakes that are difficult to access in the summer are easily accessed by snowmachine in the winter months.

 

Tackle

On lakes where bait is allowed, small shrimp, salmon eggs, meal worms, and Power bait often produce high catch rates in both the summer and winter.  Fishing a baited hook under a bobber, with the bait just off the bottom will ususally catch a fish.  On lakes with bait restrictions small jigs and silver spinners often work well.  Enticing a fish to a dry fly is always exciting and a thrill when they hit.  Use light weight tackle for the most enjoyable experience.

Getting There

There are stocked lakes located all along the Parks, Alaska, and Richardson highways.  Remote lakes require ATV’s, snowmachines, or float planes, some are only accessible in winter.  In addition there are many stocked lakes on Fort Wainwright, Eielson Air Force base and the Donnelly Training Area (these require a access/use permit available from the military bases). An inter-active map with lake locations, information on how to get to lakes, when and what they are stocked with, and bathymetric maps can be found at the ADF&G Stocked Lakes Database pages.

Dates

Begin: January 01
Ends: December 365

Regulations

Before you go fishing please check the regulations.