Goat Lake Fishing in Skagway Municipality, Alaska

• Overview

  Goat Lake sits in Skagway Municipality, out in Alaska. Tidal water begins 7.5 miles from here. It runs to roughly 200 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. With 3.4 miles or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. Among the waters listed for Skagway Municipality, none is wider. For a base, Skagway sits 7.2 miles out. For a city, Anchorage is 515 miles off. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Goat Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Species logged across Skagway Municipality include pink salmon, brook trout and Chinook salmon. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. On Goat Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 53°F; the cold one sits at 11°F. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Ice is part of the season here, ending near early May. The lid tends to go about early May and return around early November. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. That is the shape of the year on Goat Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. If the gate is shut, Lost Lake at 7.3 miles is the nearest alternative. The position on Goat Lake is worth confirming on the day.