Fishing Alaska Lakes

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Reading the Water.
First I think we need to discus fish behavior. I'm writing this while waiting for the ice to go out. When the water goes out reading the water is more about reading the bottom. If you look for sand patches along the shore you'll find large fish in spawning colors. Mudler minnows are fly this time of year. As the year moves on the trout will look for water about 60 degrees. As the water temperature rises the fish will move deeper but when they go too deep the oxygen decreases so the fish will only go so deep. In most of Alaska's lakes the limit is about fifteen feet. In shallow water you have bugs, leaches, freshwater shrimp, minnows, and all food. The larger fish become pray for eagles, loons, and other birds.
For these reasons the nice fish are along the edges of any drop-offs. They hide under logs. When you see lily pads if you cast be tween them you can pull nice fish out of them. If you see tall grasses growing from the bottom the large fish swim threw it. The bottom line is hide from the above attack by staying deep, swimming threw or under anything available. While they are hiding they lurking in ambush of all the above food sources.
So when you look for a lake the amount of food in the lake is influenced by the amount of shallow water. Shallow water increases the temperature and in Alaska that means rapid growth so start by looking for shallow water, then the hiding spots.

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