Wyoming Game and Fish reports sampling of trout

Last May, the Wyoming Game and Fish found a nice surprise in Saratoga Lake. Iowa Darters were found on education day.

“This is good news,” fish biologist Steve Gale told the Trout Unlimited audience April 4.

Iowa Darters have been found in only two places in Wyoming since the 1980s, Gale said, so to see them get into places they haven’t been before is a good thing.

In July, the Game and Fish sampled the fish population in the Laramie Region. This region covers 13,000 square miles, 5,500 stream and river miles and 300 lakes and reservoirs, Gale said.

In the Big Creek Drainage, the Game and Fish sampled above and below the diversion dam, Middle Fork, North Fork and South Fork.

The Game and Fish also sampled lakes in the Snowy Range including Silver Lake, which will be open to the public for the first time in several years, North Carbon Twin Lake, South Carbon Twin Lake and the Turpin Creek Reservoir.

This year the Game and Fish are sampling The Encampment River, specifically near Baggott Rocks, Purgatory and Commissary. Big Creek PAA, Douglas Creek, Saratoga Lake, Hog Park Reservoir, Rob Roy Reservoir, Dipper Lake, Good Reservoir 2, Albany and South Twin Lake. “We are always looking for free labor,” Gale said. The Game and Fish will also sample the North Platte River near Pick Bridge.

Volunteers who like to assist with sampling can sign up by contacting Jim States of Trout Unlimited.

Results from the sample last summer are as follows:

Big Creek Drainage –

Above the Diversion Dam

Brown Brook Rainbow

94% 5% 1%

Browns are 2 to 20 inches, average is 8 inches.

More than1,000 fish over 6 inches per mile, 427 pounds per mile. A blue ribbon stream has 600 pounds of fish per mile

Below Diversion Dam

Brown/100%

2-19 inches, average is 6 inches

More than 355 fish per mile, 145 lbs per mile

Middle Fork of Big Creek

Trout are more than 4 inches long.

1,583 fish per mile; 255 pounds per mile.

Further up the drainage there were more brook trout, 874 per mile, 72 pounds per mile.

North Fork of Big Creek

On the North Fork of Big Creek near Cunningham and Quimby Park the trout are more than 4 inches long.

Brown Brook Rainbow

91% 7% 2%

861 fish per mile, 137 lbs per mile.

Upstream in Quimby Park

Brown Brook

26% 74%

The brook trout range from 2 to 11 inches, and the browns range from 3 to 11 inches.

The average fish is more than 4 inches with 2,180 fish per mile, 167 pounds per mile.

Gale said there are several beaver ponds in the park of Big Creek and that the fish near the beaver dams are bigger.

In the South Fork of Big Creek near Holroyd

Brown Brook

89% 11%

The brown trout are 2 to 14 inches long and the brook trout are 4 to 10 inches long.

In South Fork, there are 1,682 fish per mile, 259 pounds per mile.

In the Snowy Range, Silver Lake has brook trout that are 4 to 12 inches long, with an average of 9 inches.

In lakes, Gale explained, fish are not measured by the mile, but as a catch per unit effort (CPUE). Silver Lake has a catch rate of 3.23 fish per hour, which Gale said indicates an abundance of fish.

The North Carbon Twin Lake has brook trout 7 to 12 inches, with an average of 10 inches. The CPUE is .88.

The South Carbon Twin Lake has splake, which were stocked to control an abundance of suckers. The plan is to eventually change to catchable cutthroat. The splake are 7 to 14 inches with the average at 11 inches.

In the Turpin Creek Reserviour the splake are up to 18 inches.