The Fishing Report: Fall fishing at Big Lake

BIG LAKE, Alaska (KTUU) - Summer may be over and the comfort of ice fishing in a heated shelter is still months away, but those willing to add an extra layer of clothes and fish through the remaining time of open water can be rewarded with good fishing.

“This time of year, in particular, our surface water temperature is 52 degrees, so as our water cools off, the oxygen levels go up, and fish become more active,” Dan Praslowicz with Drill Team 6 Fishing Excursions said. “So that’s why this time of year is great. You can really do well fishing in the shallower areas and targeting weed beds and such.”

Alaska’s News Source joined Praslowicz for a morning of fishing at Big Lake. Golden Vibrax were the trick for some quick rainbow trout and arctic char.

Big Lake is all wild waters, meaning there are no stocked fish. That brings with it some more regulations than some other area lakes, which combined with the lake’s sheer size, can make it more difficult for a fisherman to figure out how to have success on the lake.

“This lake has an excellent population of Arctic char, and the payoff is that these char can grow to really nice sizes,” Praslowics said. “This lake frequently produces char that are in the 26-30 inch class range. A lot of average size char here probably runs 22 inches, but this lake does grow some really big char. It’s got good food source for them, it’s got the deeper water, and the char in here really thrive.”

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