Tanana River Drainage Fishing Spots

This is a huge region, stretching from Healy to Manley Hot Springs on the western side and from Copper Center to Fairbanks on the eastern side. This is interior Alaska, far from the salt water, but you’ll still find all five salmon species. This region is a popular destination for hunters of arctic grayling and burbot. The Tangle Lakes system is famous for its grayling and lake trout, as well as a popular canoe trip destination.

Available Species: King Salmon, Silver Salmon, Red Salmon, Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Lake Trout, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Burbot, Whitefish

Hot Spots: Tangle Lakes, Piledriver Slough, Quartz Lake, Chena River, Delta Clearwater River

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Fishing Spots

Cast your line for some rain­bow trout, or maybe a sil­ver salmon. Here you’ll find pub­lic fish­ing access. A short walk on the .3 mile trail north to Strel­na Lake puts you in the right sport for some angling.

A beau­ti­ful, 2‑mile-long lake that’s a pop­u­lar place to come for activ­i­ties year-round. In sum­mer, you’ll find kayak­ers, canoers, and pad­dle board­ers, as well as the Kenai Cruis­ers Row­ing Club, which uses the lake for dai­ly prac­tices and a year­ly row­ing regatta.

ATV Trail from Tanana Lp Rd

Large road­side pull­out beside the Alas­ka High­way at mile 1391.8 is the Don­na Lakes Trail­head. Fol­low the trail 3.6 miles to Big Don­na Lake Cab­in, and con­tin­ue anoth­er 1.3 miles to Lit­tle Don­na Lake Cab­in. Both cab­ins are man­aged by ADF&G.

Fish for Arc­tic Grayling and Dol­ly Varden.

The Chatani­ka Riv­er, a Class II riv­er, is a part of the Yukon Riv­er drainage and is a clear or light­ly tan­nic stained rapid-runoff stream. It has its head­wa­ters in the moun­tains of the north­east­ern por­tion of the Alas­ka Range and flows west­ward through val­leys between sum­mits and uplands for about four-fifths of its length before it enters Minto Flats, even­tu­al­ly join­ing the Tolo­vano Riv­er. It is most suit­ed to small craft such as canoes or…  ...more

Good spot to fish for rain­bow trout.

Rain­bow trout fish­ing spot off of the Alas­ka High­way. A dirt road at MP 1348 leads to the trail­head for the 12 mile hike to Robert­son #2 lake.

Just north of Fair­banks, Alas­ka, flow­ing out of the low moun­tains and rolling hills west of Chena Dome and south of Mastodon Dome, is the Birch Creek Nation­al Wild and Scenic Riv­er, one of only a few rivers of this sta­tus that is acces­si­ble by road and requires no fly­ing in or out to do the 126-mile sec­tion of Class I to III+ riv­er. A swift, shal­low stream, Birch Creek begins above its con­flu­ence with Twelvemile Creek and for the first 10…  ...more

Large road­side pull­out beside the Alas­ka High­way at mile 1391.8 is the Don­na Lakes Trail­head. Fol­low the trail 3.6 miles to Big Don­na Lake Cab­in, man­aged by ADF&G.