Michie Lake in Whitehorse: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Out in Whitehorse, Yukon, sits Michie Lake. Around the bank it is open dry country. At some 3.83 sq km it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. The shoreline runs about 22 km, so it pays to pick a stretch and stay with it. Size puts it in the front rank of our Whitehorse list. Start from Whitehorse, 48 km down the road. Anchorage sits 849 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Michie Lake

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Reported across Whitehorse: Chinook salmon, Arctic grayling, round whitefish and longnose sucker. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Michie Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 12°C; the cold one sits at -20°C. The season is measured in weeks rather than months. Count the season from break-up, usually mid May. Expect the water usable from around mid May until roughly late October. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. Michie Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. A phone call first saves an afternoon. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Failing this one, try Trout Lake, 3.5 km away. Treat access at Michie Lake as something to verify.