An angler fly fishes for grayling on a remote lake in the Kenai Mountains. (KEN MARSH / Special to the Daily News)

Southcentral lakes hold secrets
More than 125 lakes wait within a 3-hour drive of Anchorage

By KEN MARSH
Daily News correspondent

T he time was late summer – second week or so of August – the day warm and windless. No fish dimpled the Point MacKenzie lake, but I wasn’t surprised. The sun was too high, surface temperatures too warm. The trout would be down deep where the water was cooler, and where bald eagles and ospreys could not reach them.

Still, the fish could be caught. I rigged my five-weight fly rod with a full-sink line and trolled the drop-offs with a Rolled Muddler. Worked the fish at their own level, down in the deep stuff, where I knew they fed by day on sticklebacks. Later, when the sun lowered and temperatures dropped, the shallows steaming in smoky evening light, I switched to a floating line and took midge-sipping trout on top.

Southcentral Alaska sparkles with fine rainbow trout lakes, some large, others intimate little gems. You can drive right up to many, or you may choose to sling a float tube over your shoulder and walk into something more remote. Each lake is an enigma, promising its own secrets, offering its own distinct challenges. And all seem tailor-made for fly-fishing.

Some of the best trout lakes from the Susitna Valley to the Kenai Peninsula are those stocked by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This summer, the state Division of Sport Fish plans to dump 110,000 rainbow trout into 28 Anchorage-area lakes, more than 486,000 into 73 Matanuska-Susitna Valley lakes, and 198,000 into 22 Kenai Peninsula lakes. Stocking programs have been on-going in many lakes for decades, and virtually "wild" fish to three or four pounds are present in many.

In a state coursed by thousands of streams where fish come and go with the seasons, lakes offer the advantage of captive subjects. The fish are always there, the trick is knowing how to catch them. To get started, it helps to remember that trout are generally most active in water temperatures ranging around 50 degrees. In the heat of summer, particularly following a series of warm days, water surface temperatures may exceed 50 degrees and push trout into deeper, cooler areas. During the colder days of early spring and fall, surface temperatures may actually be cooler than subsurface areas. This is called stratification. In any case, the fishing is likely to be better at depths where water temperatures are most suitable.

Before fishing a lake, take a moment to search for clues. Rising trout reveal that fish are feeding on or near the surface. Keep an eye out for hatching insects, such as midges, mayflies and damselflies. Bear in mind that rainbow trout in southcentral lakes are opportunists – they will eat nearly any smaller life-form. Locally common food sources include dragonfly nymphs, damsel naiads, chironomids (midge larvae), caddisflies, sticklebacks and leeches.

From here, it is a matter of "matching the hatch." Fish lurking three to 10 feet below the surface will frequently take Marabou Leech fly patterns, Rolled Muddlers or other patterns that imitate sticklebacks, Lake Damsel patterns, and Woolly Buggers. When fish are feeding on lake surfaces, dry flies are in order. Rise forms that leave a bubble in their wakes are usually an indication that trout are taking insects off the surface. In most cases, the proper size Adams dry fly will take southcentral Alaska’s surface-feeding trout. Find a living example of the trout food at hand and match the size to a fly in your box.

Many lake anglers are frustrated by "rising" trout that snub virtually all dry flies thrown at them. In most cases, these fish are not feeding directly on the surface. They are feeding upon insect larvae (and occasionally, small fish) just below the surface. These subsurface-feeding trout will often break the surface with their dorsals and even leap clear out of the water as they chase their prey. In these situations, try wet flies -- soft hackles such as Partridge-and-Yellows can be effective -- or, if hatching midges are present, chironomids fished a foot or so below a strike indicator.

Basic fly-fishing gear for southcentral Alaska usually includes a 4-weight to 6- weight rod, a light reel (something along the lines of an Orvis Battenkill works well), a spool of floating fly line and another of full-sink or sinktip line. Tippets rarely need to exceed 6-pound-test.

Fly-fishers who get out on the water and cast toward the shoreline normally have the best luck. Float tubes are particularly efficient since they allow anglers to hover in place, even in light winds.

For help getting started, talk with the local experts. Try the folks behind the fly counters at Mountain View Sports, 563-8600, or McAfee’s Fly Shop, 344-1617, or at Three Rivers Fly & Tackle, 373-5434, in Wasilla.

For more information on southcentral trout lakes, stop by the the Division of Sport Fish offices at 333 Raspberry Road and pick up a copy of the Statewide Stocking Plan For Recreational Fisheries.