Mat-Su Valley Fishing Spots

This unique fish­ery, about 25 miles north of Anchor­age, is com­prised of a small, arti­fi­cial eddy of water that comes down from a pow­er plant and con­nects to the main stem, Knik Riv­er. The glacial-fed water looks murky and blue-gray, and there’s very lit­tle cur­rent. While you won’t find much soli­tude here, you can usu­al­ly find a spot to set up a lawn chair for some lazy fish­ing. There’s abun­dant park­ing, too, as well as restrooms.

Pop­u­lar for sock­eye in ear­ly August, and sil­vers from Mid-August with late runs through Octo­ber. From the park­ing area at the Jim Creek Camp­ground, it is about a 1.5 mile trail to the riv­er. This area is extreme­ly pop­u­lar for locals to explore on ATVs and dirt bikes.

Matanus­ka Lakes (Kepler Bradley) Camp­ground, at Mile 36 of the Glenn Hwy near Palmer, offers 9 RV sites and 8 camp­sites by Kepler Lake. Sur­round­ed by spruce for­est with lake access, trails, vault toi­lets, and fire rings, it’s a peace­ful base for trout fish­ing, canoe­ing, and hik­ing the Matanus­ka Green­belt — just min­utes from the charm of down­town Palmer.

Long Lake is locat­ed with­in the Matanus­ka Lakes Recre­ation Area. Park at the Long Lake Trail­head and fol­low the trail that fol­lows the shore­line. There are mul­ti­ple access points. The lake is stocked annu­al­ly with rain­bow trout.

Small lake in Palmer, Alas­ka with great pub­lic access, includ­ing a park­ing area (with fee sta­tion) for about 4 – 5 vehi­cles, and pub­lic toi­lets. Fish for rain­bow trout and arc­tic grayling.

Eas­i­ly acces­si­ble fish­ing spot off the Glenn High­way near Palmer, Alas­ka. There’s a small paved park­ing are at mile 37, and a trail down to the lake. Anglers will find rain­bow trout and land­locked salmon.

Annu­al­ly stocked lake for land­locked salmon (silvers/​coho) with­in the Matanus­ka Lakes State Recre­ation Area. You can reach the lake via the Matanus­ka Lake Trail­head or the Long Lake Trailhead.

North Knob Lake is acces­si­ble via the ALAS­COM Access Road off of the Glenn High­way, just across the road from the Chick­aloon Trail­head Sys­tem. There is a small grav­el pull­out for park­ing. The lake is stocked with rain­bow trout.

North Knob Lake is acces­si­ble via the ALAS­COM Access Road off of the Glenn High­way, just across the road from the Chick­aloon Trail­head Sys­tem. You’ll first past North Knob lake before reach­ing South Knob Lake. The lake is stocked with rain­bow trout.

Lake stocked with rain­bow trout. Acces­si­ble via Bon­nie Lakes Road off the Glenn High­way just north of Chick­aloon. There’s a grav­el pull-out park­ing area on the right hand side of the road to access the lake.

Love­ly lake acces­si­ble from via Bon­nie Lake Road off the Glenn High­way just north of Chick­aloon. A small dock juts into the lake, as well as a grav­el boat launch area. Fish for rain­bow trout and grayling.

Sev­en­teen­mile Lake is stocked with rain­bow trout and arc­tic char. It’s a tran­quil lake with views of the sur­round­ing moun­tains. The lake can be accessed from the Glenn High­way, just before Sut­ton, via Mile 58 Road. There’s a small grav­el park­ing area and unde­vel­oped boat launch off of Wish­bone Place.

A good dirt road, with plen­ty of pull-outs, leaves the main high­way on the south side of the road. The ​“Alas­com Road” runs four miles across the val­ley floor. There are sev­er­al lakes, stocked with trout and grayling, for fish­er­men, and plen­ty of camp­ing spots. It’s qui­et, and there’s great canoe­ing and bird watch­ing on the lakes. It’s a pop­u­lar week­end des­ti­na­tion for Anchor­age folks, so you might not be alone. And in the fall, you’ll see plenty  ...more

Most of this lake is lined with pri­vate prop­er­ty, but it there is a small park­ing area and pub­lic access trail off N. Windy Bot­tom Road. The lake is stocked with rain­bow trout.

Qui­et lake in Wasil­la most­ly lined with res­i­den­tial prop­er­ties. There’s park­ing and a grav­el boat launch off of S. Beaver Lake Road. The lake is stocked with Rain­bow Trout.

Large camp­ground in Wasil­la, Alas­ka man­aged by the city of Wasil­la. There’s a 57-spot camp­ground, 3 large pavil­lions, fields, a play­ground, and a boat launch for water­sports. The lake is stocked with Rain­bow trout and is pop­u­lar in sum­mer, as well as for ice fish­ing in winter.

Love­ly neigh­bor­hood lake in Palmer, just off of Trunk Road. There’s a pub­lic access point on the north side of the lake off of E Turn Dri­ve. There’s a small grav­el park­ing area. The lake is stocked with rain­bow trout. Locals come here to fish and paddle.

Avoid the crowds and explore a local favorite. This 6.2‑mile out-and-back trail, locat­ed in Wil­low, Alas­ka, takes trav­el­ers on a wind­ing jour­ney along bore­al for­est floor. The pay­off is at the turn­around point, which fea­tures views of Red Shirt Lake’s shore­line. At the lake, fish for north­ern pike and keep an ear out for loons, which fre­quent the area.

This area opens to dip net­ting for sock­eye salmon only if escape­ment of salmon is beyond a cer­tain lim­it. Vis­it the ADF&G web­site for more information.

This lake is part of the Nan­cy Lake Canoe Sys­tem. There’s a paved park­ing area to access the trail­head at about mile 4.5 of the Nan­cy Lake Park­way. The lake is stocked with Rain­bow Trout.

A qui­et spot to fish for Rain­bow Trout locat­ed with­in the Nan­cy Lake State Recre­ation Area. The lake is acces­si­ble via a short trail from the Nan­cy Lake Parkway.

Rocky Lake State Rec Site in Big Lake offers 10 wood­ed camp­sites along the lake in Alaska’s Mat-Su Val­ley. Man­aged by Alas­ka State Parks, it fea­tures vault toi­lets, fire rings, and lake access for fish­ing, pad­dling, or relax­ing by the water. This peace­ful, fam­i­ly-friend­ly camp­ground is a cozy retreat with small-town charm and Big Lake’s out­door recre­ation just min­utes away.

Qui­et lake in Wil­low where you can fish for rain­bow trout. It is stocked by ADF&G.

This is a week­end only salmon fish­ery that is very pop­u­lar with locals. The creek is more of a slough, with thick-glacial silt mud.

Big Lake South State Rec Site, at Mile 5 of Big Lake Road near Wasil­la, offers 20 wood­ed camp­sites along Big Lake in Alaska’s Mat-Su Val­ley. Man­aged by Alas­ka State Parks, it fea­tures spruce for­est, lake access, a boat launch, vault toi­lets, and fire rings. This scenic camp­ground is great for trout fish­ing, boat­ing, or enjoy­ing the area’s active out­door vibe, with Wasilla’s ameni­ties nearby.

Big Lake North State Rec Site offers 60 wood­ed camp­sites along Big Lake in Alaska’s Mat-Su Val­ley. Man­aged by Alas­ka State Parks, it fea­tures vault toi­lets, fire rings, a tele­phone, and lake­front access for fish­ing, pad­dling, and relax­ing. Sur­round­ed by spruce and near the Big Lake com­mu­ni­ty, it’s a spa­cious, scenic base for enjoy­ing the area’s out­door recre­ation and peace­ful setting.

Fin­ger Lake State Rec Site near Wasil­la offers 24 camp­sites, 2 group sites, and 25 pic­nic areas along scenic Fin­ger Lake. Man­aged by Alas­ka State Parks, it fea­tures lake access, spruce for­est, vault toi­lets, and fire rings. Campers enjoy trout fish­ing, kayak­ing, and loon watch­ing, with easy access to the near­by towns of Wasil­la and Palmer for added con­ve­nience and amenities.

Nan­cy Lake State Recre­ation RV Park, near Wil­low at Mile 67 Parks High­way, offers 30 wood­ed sites along Nan­cy Lake. Man­aged by Alas­ka State Parks, it fea­tures lake access, vault toi­lets, and fire rings. Sur­round­ed by spruce, it pro­vides a qui­et, peace­ful set­ting for fish­ing trout, hik­ing near­by trails, or enjoy­ing the lake’s serene beau­ty, with Willow’s small-town charm close by.

Camp­ing by this 108-acre lake inside the Nan­cy Lake State Recre­ation Area near Wil­low feels like you’ve reached the end of the road. To the west stretch­es unbro­ken wilder­ness to the Alas­ka Range and beyond. And yet, the 97 sites in this friend­ly, heav­i­ly treed camp­ground offer all the reg­u­lar camp­ground ameni­ties of out­hous­es, fire rings, pic­nic tables and water pump. South Rol­ly con­tains pike and stocked rain­bow trout. 

When sil­ver salmon are run­ning up Mon­tana Creek by the thou­sands, fish­er­men are run­ning up the Parks High­way by the hun­dreds to go ​“com­bat fish­ing.” They stand elbow to elbow along the creek, cast­ing their lines and catch­ing every­thing from fish to coat sleeves. Up and down the creek, you can hear peo­ple holler ​“Fish on!”

Wil­low Creek Con­flu­ence State Rec Area, near Mile 70.8 of the Parks Hwy, offers 140 camp­sites where Wil­low Creek meets the Susit­na Riv­er. Man­aged by Alas­ka State Parks, it fea­tures spruce for­est, flush toi­lets, a dump sta­tion, and fish-clean­ing areas. This busy camp­ground is ide­al for fish­ing, raft­ing, and explor­ing near­by Hatch­er Pass, with the town of Wil­low just min­utes away.

Pop­u­lar camp­ground man­aged by the city of Hus­ton across the street from the Lit­tle Susit­na Riv­er Pub­lic Use Facil­i­ty. This camp­ground also has a day use area, a pavil­lion for rent, play­grounds, and access to fish­ing on the Lit­tle Susit­na River.

Pop­u­lar launch­ing point for boaters fish­ing the Lit­tle Susit­na Riv­er. There is a fee for dai­ly park­ing, and there are sev­er­al sites avail­able for overnight camp­ing. This is a pop­u­lar site for fish­ing guides to launch day char­ter trips. There’s a great wood­en sign near the riv­er to proud­ly hang your catch for a pho­to. It’s pop­u­lar to angle for Kings in May and Sil­vers clos­er to August/​September.

Desh­ka Land­ing is a boat launch on the Susit­na Riv­er that pro­vides access to the Susit­na, Yent­na, and Desh­ka Rivers. The land­ing is open year-round (win­ter snow­mo­bile use) and is man­aged by the Desh­ka Out­door Asso­ci­a­tion, LLC.

Susit­na Land­ing, near the Kash­wit­na and Susit­na Rivers by Wil­low, offers 69 wood­ed sites in Alaska’s Mat-Su Val­ley. Pri­vate­ly man­aged, it fea­tures riv­er access, show­ers, and fire rings for a com­fort­able stay. Sur­round­ed by spruce, it’s ide­al for fish­ing salmon and trout, boat­ing, or enjoy­ing the scenic river­side. Willow’s small-town charm is just a short dri­ve away, adding con­ve­nience to the setting.

Sun­shine Creek flows into the Susit­na Riv­er. There is an access road off of the Parks High­way. Most pop­u­lar for fish­ing for sil­vers late August through September.

Stocked lake with park­ing area just off the Parks High­way, but major­i­ty of the shore­line is pri­vate prop­er­ty. Rain­bow trout. Beau­ti­ful view of Mt. Denali, Mt. Forak­er, and Mt. Hunter on a clear day.

Part of the Tal­keet­na Lakes Park trail sys­tem. There’s a trail­head on Whig­mi Road with a short walk to access the lake, and there’s about a 2 mile trail around the lake that con­nects with the Z Lake Loop. The Lake is stocked with Rain­bow Trout.

Eas­i­ly acces­si­ble lake in Tal­keet­na, Alas­ka that is part of a pop­u­lar chain of Lakes ​“X”, ​“Y”, and ​“Z” lakes. They are pop­u­lar with canoeists who portage from one lake to the next. The lake is stocked annu­al­ly with Rain­bow Trout. There is a short trail to the lake from Com­sat Road.

Parks Hwy access to this lake just north of the junc­tion with the Tal­keet­na Spur Road. Fish for rain­bow trout.