HarrisonLake, Yukon: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  HarrisonLake is one of the Whitehorse listings for Yukon. The surface lies 1,178 metres up. At some 1.33 sq km it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. The edge covers about 8.5 km, enough to hold several distinct areas. Head to Whitehorse, 62 km away, for anything you forgot. The big place round here is Anchorage, 742 km distant. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on HarrisonLake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Fish documented in Whitehorse include Chinook salmon, Arctic grayling and round whitefish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. HarrisonLake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 10°C, with January the cold end at about -18°C. The ice season is long here and the open one short. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late May. The water is typically free of ice between late May and mid October. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. On HarrisonLake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No made access is recorded, so a short walk in is the likely arrangement. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. The nearest alternative is Taye Lake, 14 km out. Confirm before you fish HarrisonLake.