Fishing Kings Lake in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska

• Overview

  Kings Lake is a Matanuska-Susitna Borough water, in Alaska. The coast is 7.7 miles away. The water covers some 100 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Shoreline length is close to 3.3 miles, and each section fishes a little differently. Head to Lakes, 1.7 miles away, for anything you forgot. Further out sit Tanaina (2.4 miles) and Wasilla (3.9 miles). Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Kings Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Public occurrence data for Matanuska-Susitna Borough names rainbow trout, Coho salmon and sockeye salmon. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Kings Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 58°F on average, January about 16°F. A solid cap is the normal state through winter. Winter locks it down, and late April brings it back. In an average year the thaw lands around late April and the freeze near early November. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. That shapes the year on Kings Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is a car park half a mile from the bank. A jetty or pier is mapped about half a mile from here. A campsite is mapped about half a mile away, which makes an early start easier. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. The nearest alternative is Anderson Lake, 0.6 miles out. For Kings Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.