{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox body of water |name = Fritz Cove |image = |caption = |image_map = |image_bathymetry = |caption_bathymetry = |pushpin_map=Alaska |location = Stephens Passage,<br/>Juneau, Alaska |coords = {{coord|58|19|41|N|134|38|30|W|display=inline,title}} |rivers = Cove Creek,<br/>Elevenmile Creek,<br/>Fish Creek |oceans = |countries = United States |length = |width = |area = |depth = |max-depth = {{convert|30|fathom|m}} |volume = |shore = |frozen = |islands = Spuhn Island |cities = |reference = }}

'''Fritz Cove''' is a bay on the northwestern coast of Douglas Island in the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, United States.<ref>U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. ''United States Coast Pilot: Alaska, Part I: Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay, Sixth Edition'', p. 158. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1917.</ref> Lying in Stephens Passage, it is {{convert|8|mi|km}} northwest of the city of Juneau.

==History==

Historically, Fritz Cove was used for fishing by Alaska Natives, especially the Auke people. A summer camp named Aangoox̱a Yé was located at the mouth of Fish Creek.<ref>Goldschmidt, Walter R., and Haas, Theodore H. ''Haa Aaní, Our Land: Tlingit and Haida Land Rights and Use''. Sealaska Corporation, 1998.</ref> Scottish-American naturalist John Muir camped at the bay on November 10, 1879.<ref>Muir, John; Engberg, Robert (ed.); and Merrell, Bruce (ed.) ''Letters from Alaska''. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Wisconsin, 1993.</ref>

The area was surveyed by the USS ''Jamestown'' in 1880;<ref>''Annual Report of the Hydrographic Office for the Fiscal Year 1924.'' Government Printing Office: Washington, 1924.</ref><ref>[http://alaskaweb.org/military/jamestown1880-81.html U.S.S. Jamestown Warship and Her Personnel, 1880 and 1881]. Alaska Trails to the Past. Accessed June 23, 2010.</ref> Lieutenant F. M. Symonds named the bay after his son. The name was first published by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1881.<ref>[https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1402419 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fritz Cove]. Accessed July 23, 2010.</ref>

==Geography==

Fritz Cove and Gastineau Channel became linked in 1960 through a United States Army Corps of Engineers effort to dredge a navigation route.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/071104/out_wetlands.shtml |title=Trek through 'the flats' reveals beauty of wetlands |author=Pursell, Jenny |date=July 11, 2004 |work=Juneau Empire |accessdate=December 11, 2010}}</ref>

Streams flowing into Fritz Cove include Cove Creek,<ref>[https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1400740 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Cove Creek]. Accessed July 23, 2010.</ref> Elevenmile Creek,<ref>[https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1401785 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Elevenmile Creek]. Accessed July 23, 2010.</ref> and Fish Creek.<ref>[https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1402082 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Fish Creek]. Accessed July 23, 2010.</ref> Islands in the bay include Spuhn Island.<ref>[https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1410068 USGS GNIS Feature Detail Report: Spuhn Island]. Accessed July 23, 2010.</ref> Depths in the bay range from {{convert|8|to|30|fathom|m}}.<ref>U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. ''Table of Depths for Channels and Harbors'', p. 117. Government Printing Office: Washington, 1913.</ref>

thumb|right|300px|The USS ''Jamestown'' explored southeast Alaska, including Fritz Cove, in 1880 and 1881.

Dungeness crabs,<ref>Stone, Robert P., and O'Clair, Charles E. "Behavior of Female Dungeness Crabs, ''Cancer magister'', in a Glacial Southeast Alaska Estuary: Homing, Brooding-Site Fidelity, Seasonal Movements, and Habitat Use". ''Journal of Crustacean Biology''. May 2002.</ref> Tanner crabs,<ref>Stone, Robert P. {{cite web|url= http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/pubs/afrb/vol6_n1/stonv6n1.pdf |title="Mass Molting of Tanner Crabs ''Chionoecetes bairdi'' in a Southeast Alaska Estuary" }}&nbsp;{{small|(121.55&nbsp;KB)}} ''Alaska Fishery Research Bulletin'', Volume 6, No. 1. Summer 1999. Accessed July 23, 2010.</ref> and king salmon<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/100508/out_340549086.shtml |title=A fisherman's Elegy |author=Wallace, Brian |date=October 5, 2008 |work=Juneau Empire |accessdate=July 23, 2010}}</ref> live in the cove; molting of the male Tanner crabs in the cove has been documented since the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/041308/loc_268024072.shtml |title=Shells litter Douglas Island beach as Tanner crabs molt en masse |author=Golden, Kate |date=April 13, 2008 |work=Juneau Empire |accessdate=December 11, 2010}}</ref> Scoters, grebes, mergansers, and marbled murrelets can also be seen in the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/021906/out_20060219002.shtml |title=On the Trails: Kingfishers, Dollies, crows can be found on Fish Creek Trail |author=Willson, Mary F. |date=February 19, 2006 |work=Juneau Empire |accessdate=December 11, 2010}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * James, Bushrod Washington. ''Alaska: Its Neglected Past, Its Brilliant Future''. The Sunshine Publishing Company: Philadelphia, 1897. * Miller, Mike. ''Alaska's Southeast: Touring the Inside Passage''. Morris Book Publishing. Eleventh edition, 2008.

Category:Bays of Alaska Category:Bodies of water of Juneau, Alaska