Twin Shirt Lakes in Matanuska-Susitna Borough: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Twin Shirt Lakes in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska. The surface lies 125 feet up. Small at around 14 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Supplies mean a trip to Willow, 7.8 miles off. Beyond it, Big Lake at 11 miles and Houston at 11 miles. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Twin Shirt Lakes

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Records held for Matanuska-Susitna Borough cover rainbow trout, Coho salmon, sockeye salmon, longnose sucker and Arctic charr. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. At Twin Shirt Lakes light and wind decide more than tackle does.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 9°F to 58°F. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at early November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. That shapes the year on Twin Shirt Lakes.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Local rules can differ across the county line, so check where you stand. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Rolly Twin Lakes, 1.2 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at Twin Shirt Lakes are worth checking on the day.