Saratoga Lake gets Christmas Stocking

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department stocked 1,300 2-year old brood cull rainbow trout into Saratoga Lake last Wednesday.

This effort is part of their yearly stocking of the lake, and is timed to support the 32nd Annual Saratoga Ice Fishing Derby to be held Jan. 17 and 18. During the stocking, volunteers and Stacy Crimmins, director of the Saratoga/PlatteValley Chamber of Commerce, were on hand to tag some of the bounty fish for the derby.

According to Lee McDonald, Fisheries Biologist for the Laramie Region, the Game and Fish Department stocks about 30,000 sub-catchable rainbow trout, ranging from 5 to 7 inches long, in Saratoga Lake every year. Megan McLean, Senior Fish Culturalist from the Dan Speas Hatchery in Casper, said the batch of fish stocked last Wednesday measure between 12 and 14 inches, a catchable size. The fish also appeared healthy and moved away from the stocking area after adjusting to the colder water of the lake.

"It's nice to see the Game and Fish doing a great job of stocking the lake and making sure the fish are healthy," Crimmins said.

Stocking of Saratoga Lake benefits anglers all year long, but the ice fishing derby benefits the Game and Fish Department as a source of data for assessing their stocking program. Each year information on where anglers are from, what kind of bait they are using, what type of license they have, number of fish caught per hour, size of fish caught and species of fish caught are collected during the derby.

"The nice thing about an ice fishing derby is we can interview anglers and catch a lot of data at the same time of year. Over 20 years you can get a pretty good data set," McDonald said. Specifically, the metrics on numbers of fish caught and the size and species composition give the Game and Fish Department a good idea of how successful the stocking program is, according to McDonald.

Residents of the Platte Valley have expressed some concern about the ice fishing derby as Saratoga Lake has not frozen over yet. Crimmins said in the 32-year history of the derby it has never been canceled due to lack of ice.

She said she doesn't worry about the thickness or coverage of the ice in mid-December as, "It only takes a couple days of below zero temperature to get the ice thickened."

Crimmins noted that the ice in the area near the boat ramp, where the fish were stocked, was more than three inches-thick last Wednesday.

Crimmins also said that about seven years ago there was some open water on the lake during the derby, but they simply roped off unsafe areas and had search and rescue on hand in case their were problems.

With $6,000 in guaranteed cash prizes and an additional $35,000 in "Trophy Fish" available Crimmins expects the number of participants in this year's derby to be higher than usual.