Quartz Lake

Quartz Lake is located about 15 miles North of Delta Junction, Alaska.   The Rainbow Trout in Quartz Lake are planted, but can grow very large feeding on the lake's scuds. My Brother-in-Law, Todd Mortensen caught this nice fish in 1994 just after break-up when the larger fish are found along the edges.

I have caught Rainbows in Quartz Lake up to 25 inches.   This fish is about 22 inches long. Quartz also holds many landlocked Silver Salmon.   These rarely exceed 12 inches.   Arctic Char are reported to be in the lake also, though I have never seen one.

The Rainbow Trout in Quartz Lake cannot successfully reproduce because there is not enough inflow.  This does not prevent them from making an attempt.  Each Spring the largest fish in the lake will congregate over gravel beds and spawn. Kevin hoists a good Rainbow that he brought to the net in the Spring of 2005.

Chris Pettine lifts a health Rainbow Trout that completely fills his net. Conditions were quite good in 2005 and we were able to catch quite a few of these Rainbows. Kevin Kenaston is casting to a group of Rainbow Trout in the shallows behind Chris.

This 22 inch spawning male was landed by Chris in 2005.  It was the largest fish of the day. These spawning fish are reluctant biters, but persistence will generally prevail.

I found a few fish in 2005 as well.  I wasn't able to catch any that were quite as large as the 22 inch fish that Chris caught, but I did find the Fly of the Day that they just couldn't seem to pass up for a while. This fish was about 20 inches and represents my largest of the day.

My Son, Devin, hopped in my Float Tube one night at Quartz Lake while the rest of us cooked Wranglers.  He was able to bring in a couple of decent 15 inch Rainbow Trout.  This is the larger and he chose to eat it for Dinner. Devin seems to believe that a big white Cowboy Hat is proper Fly Fishing attire.  It amazes me that the Fish Gods rewarded him with anything sporting an outfit like that.