Middle Finger Lake in Kenai Peninsula Borough: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Kenai Peninsula Borough in Alaska is where Middle Finger Lake sits. The sea is 11 miles distant. With some 156 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The outline measures near 3.6 miles, so local knowledge counts. Some 8.9 miles away sits Sterling, the nearest settlement. The big place round here is Anchorage, 52 miles distant. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Middle Finger Lake

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Reported across Kenai Peninsula Borough: northern pike, sockeye salmon and rainbow trout. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Treat Middle Finger Lake as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 56°F at the top of summer and 15°F at the bottom of winter. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. The open-water window runs from around late April to about early November in an average year. May into June fishes hardest, and September gives a second good stretch before the lid returns. Anyone fishing Middle Finger Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. For a change of water, Finger Lakes is 0.2 miles distant. For Middle Finger Lake in particular, ask before you travel.