Fishing Mahoney Lake in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska

• Overview

  Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, is where Mahoney Lake sits. This is mixed woodland country. The water covers some 173 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. About 2.0 miles of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. Ketchikan lies 7.3 miles from the water. Then Metlakatla, 20 miles, and Craig, 64 miles. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Mahoney Lake

  Open data we checked carries no depth for this water. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Ketchikan Gateway Borough records list pink salmon, Chum salmon, Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and sockeye salmon among the fish reported. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Mahoney Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 57°F; the cold one sits at 31°F. Some winters cap it and some do not. Some winters give nothing at all, so plan for open water. The cooler months are the comfortable ones to fish here. That shapes the year on Mahoney Lake. Weed growth peaks in late summer and changes where you can fish.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Public data shows nothing built here, so treat the whole approach as informal. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Upper Mahoney Lake, 1.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at Mahoney Lake are worth checking on the day.