Icy happening

The ice on top of local Mat-Su Valley lakes continues to build and thicken, but conversations I’ve had with a few folks who have been out testing thickness indicate to me that we may only now be getting near a comfortable thickness for venturing out in specific locations — and in the Mat-Su Valley core area — people should wait for thicker ice before taking a vehicle out on the lakes or fishing together in a large group.

Just last Friday (November 14) I attended the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau annual meeting in Wasilla, where I talked with Derek of Adventures by True North Alaska. Derek mentioned that he had been out checking the ice on Finger Lake that morning and only measured 2 inches of ice — near shore. Wisely, he did not venture too far on the lake or he may have found an area of less ice where he could have broken through. He also showed me a picture on his phone of someone who had driven a pickup out from the Alaska State Parks Finger Lake boat launch and broken through. Derek attempted to pull theat pickup out with his vehicle, but was unsuccessful so he called a tow truck to get it done.

When I talked with Saul at 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle in Wasilla on Tuesday, he said it was a young guy looking to get more followers on the internet who had driven out onto Finger Lake and broken through the ice.. Definitely not what I would have done — this getting followers on the internet thing is definitely, at times getting out of hand.

On Tuesday I also talked with Corey Berg with Berg’s Frontier Fishing Guides, who had been north to Lake Louise last weekend, where the ice was about 5 to 6 inches in depth. Corey told me he had been out checking ice closer to home this week and found depths ranging from 5 — 8 inches on Finger Lake, but said he did not intend to start guiding near the Mat-Su core area until this coming weekend or later. He mentioned having a couple ice fishing trips already scheduled for next week. Corey wants enough ice that he can run a snowmobile or 4-wheeler on the ice — and he checks ice depths with his auger before venturing out too far.

Hat is a smart idea early in the season, and just because there is plenty of solid ice at one location does not necessarily mean that even a near-by lake has the same depth of ice. I’ve seen that several times where one of my favorite early-winter lakes simply develops sufficient ice thickness later than other lakes only a few miles away.

Mat-Su Stocking Levels. For those who have not done fish stocking searches for Mat-Su locations on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) website recently, be prepared to learn that stocking levels at Mat-Su locations appear lower and different this year.

One specific change is that because of a shortage of king salmon eggs collected during 2024, lake stockings lack that particular fish species this year.

Even though the coho salmon egg take was also low during 2024, the lake stockings of landlocked salmon has been maintained somewhat with stocking of coho salmon. For some reason they seem to be a bit smaller in size compared to recent year’s lake stockings of king salmon.

Aside from coho stockings stocking in two Mat-Su lakes, however, there is a large lack of fish size / numbers (catchable) for the rainbow trout and Arctic char stocked in Mat-Su lakes.

There were quite a lot of subcatchables stocked early in the summer and last year, as well, that having grown out may provide the bulk of the ice fishing action on most Mat-Su Valley lakes this winter. Below is a run down of the number and size of “catchable -sized” fish over 6 inches in length stocked in Mat-Su Lakes since August 1 — November 18, 2025 from the ADF&G website:

Finger Lake — 25,626 coho salmon (6.9 - 7.4 inch) average length. Kepler / Bradley Lake — 300 rainbow trout 11.4 inch average. Loberg Lake — 150 rainbow trout 11.4 inch average.

Long Lake (Glenn Highway)— 200 Arctic char 12.5 inch average length. Long Lake (Glenn Highway)— 263 rainbow trout 11.4 average length.

Matanuska Lake — 2,822 coho salmon 6.9 inch average length.

Seventeen Mile Lake — 100 Arctic char 12.5 inch average length.

Compared to the ADF&G lake stockings of catchable-sized fish for the Fairbanks and Anchorage areas during this same time period, the Mat-Su lake stockings look anemic. ADF&G usually provides an opportunity for the pubic to comment on its stocking plan around this time of year. If Mat-Su anglers and businesses would like to see more robust lake stockings for the Mat-Su to support our popular ice fisheries, and the economic impact they provide, it may pay to comment so — when the stocking plan comes up for review.

Be Safe, Good Luck, and FIsh On!