October 2024 - 44

Fall can be a good time to fish beaver ponds for brook trout in various locations around Wyoming. (Photo by Mark Robertson)
CODY REGION
Fall brown trout fishing is once again expected
to be good throughout the region.
Shell, Paintrock and Medicine Lodge creeks
are worth a try, along with the South Fork of the
Shoshone River and lower Shoshone River closer
to Cody.
" The brown trout streams in the fall can be exceptional
because the fish are aggressive and hardly
anyone is out there, " said Sam Hochhalter, Game
and Fish fisheries supervisor in the Cody Region.
Hochhalter added as browns move up from lower
segments of those creeks to more suitable spawning
habitat, anglers have a better chance of catching
larger fish than in the summer.
Hochhalter said the lower Shoshone River is in
its prime during the fall months and continues to
fish well into the winter months. The Bighorn River
near Thermopolis usually comes back to life in the
fall following warm-water temperatures during
the summer.
Hochhalter said there were low flows in the Bighorn
River all summer, and the migration of sauger
from the river to Bighorn Lake is expected to happen
earlier than the last couple of years. That could
mean good fishing for sauger in the lake this fall.
LARAMIE REGION
Try going after splake in the Snowy Range
Mountains. Splake, a sterile hybrid of brook and
lake trout, have been stocked in many waters in
the Snowies for many years to suppress sucker or
stunted brook trout populations. Large splake are
netted every year.
" While large splake are not abundant, they do
44 | October 2024
exist. These large fish primarily feed on other fish, so
try using lake trout tactics, " said Bobby Compton,
Game and Fish fisheries supervisor in the Laramie
Region.
Compton added some lakes to try for splake in
the Snowies include Big Brooklyn, Carbon South
Twin, Klondikes, Lewis, Marie, Mirror and Turpin.
Another Snowy Range lake - Lake Owen - is
producing a nice mix of brook, brown, cutthroat
and rainbow trout that are growing to nice sizes.
The Laramie, North Platte and Encampment
rivers - and their tributaries - are great places
to fish for brown trout.
Twin Buttes Reservoir supports a robust population
of brown trout. Game and Fish asks anglers
to fill out the online creel survey each time they
fish there. The goal of the survey is to evaluate the
success of stocked rainbow trout.
PINEDALE REGION
Boulder Lake is a great option for fall kokanee
fishing. Soda Lake brown and brook trout fishing
also picks up as temperatures decrease. The catch
rate might be slow but the fish could be large. Lake
trout fishing in all of the Finger Lakes picks up
in the fall, and anglers are encouraged to harvest
smaller lake trout.
Mosquito, Rock Crib and Wagon Creek lakes
should produce enjoyable spots for brook trout.
Hilda Sexauer, Game and Fish fisheries supervisor in
the Pinedale Region, said community fishing ponds
in Sublette County should fish well this fall and be
good spots for kids to fish. Those ponds include
Kids Fishing Pond, CCC Pond and Town Pond.
- Robert Gagliardi is the associate editor of Wyoming Wildlife.

October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2024