Mountain West Fishing Report: November 2026 to February 2027
This is the November 2026 to February 2027 edition at its permanent link. See the current Mountain West report.
No single day stands out in these 14 days
Our engine puts the best day on 12 different dates across the 40 waters we grade in this region, and the most popular one, November 9, 2026, takes only 8 of them. That is worth knowing in itself: when one day wins almost everywhere it is a weather pattern crossing the whole region, and these 14 days have no such pattern. So pick the day for the water you are actually fishing, named on its own state page below, rather than one date for the whole region.
This is a forecast, so it is the first thing on this page to go out of date. Generated November 3, 2026.
The Mountain West fishes its tailwaters open and its high reservoirs through the ice
Winter in the Mountain West divides by elevation more than by state. The high lakes and reservoirs freeze, from Canyon Ferry and Georgetown in Montana to South Park in Colorado, Strawberry in Utah and Lake Cascade in Idaho, while the tailwaters below the big dams run open all winter: the Missouri below Holter, the North Platte at Gray Reef and the Miracle Mile, the Fryingpan, the Blue, and the Green below Flaming Gorge. Idaho's steelhead rivers fish through the cold, and this year's run is among the lowest on record, so Idaho cut the steelhead limit statewide and closed the Clearwater basin to harvest on October 21.
Three big waters straddle a state line, and a license from one state goes further on them than the line suggests: Flaming Gorge between Wyoming and Utah, Bear Lake between Idaho and Utah, where cisco are dip-netted through the ice on the Idaho side from January 1, and Lake Powell between Utah and Arizona. The second table below sets out whose license covers what.
Each state's rules are below under the same headings as every region, written for someone fishing it for the first time: the license, bait and gear, the inland limits, and ice.
Idaho's licenses run out on December 31 and Montana's at the end of February
An Idaho annual license is good for the calendar year, and so is a steelhead permit, so anyone fishing after New Year needs a 2027 license. A Montana license runs from March 1 to the end of February, so this season's covers the whole winter and the next starts on March 1. A Colorado annual license runs 13 months, to March 31, and the 2027 licenses go on sale on March 1, while a Wyoming license lasts 12 months and a Utah license 365 days from the day it is bought.
Dates that change what you may keep
4 of these 6 change a season, a bag limit or a legal method. Every day of the week below was checked against a calendar.
| When | What changes | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sun November 1 | Utah's Mantua Reservoir has no walleye limit from today, and every walleye caught there must be killed. | UT |
| Mon November 30 | Last day on the rivers and streams of Montana's Western District, unless an exception keeps one open; they reopen on the third Saturday in May. Utah's statewide ban on keeping kokanee ends at midnight. | MT, UT |
| Thu December 31 | Idaho's annual licenses expire, and so does every permit bought for this year, steelhead permits included. | ID |
| Fri January 1 | Cisco dip-netting opens on the Idaho side of Bear Lake, to February 15, 30 a day. Utah's 2027 guidebook is expected, carrying the 2027-28 rules. | ID, UT |
| Mon February 15 | Last day of cisco dip-netting on the Idaho side of Bear Lake. | ID |
| Sun February 28 | Montana licenses expire at the end of the day, and the new license year begins on March 1. | MT |
Through the ice, state by state
How many lines, how wide a hole and what a shelter must carry differ across these five states, and in Montana from one district to the next.
| State | Lines through the ice | Holes and shelters |
|---|---|---|
| Montana | Two lines with two hooks each in the Western and Central districts, six in the Eastern, each in sight | Holes no wider than 12 inches except where spearing is open; shelters off every day on listed waters, and in the Eastern District after March 1 unless occupied overnight |
| Idaho | Up to five lines, permit or not; on Bear Lake one, or two with a two-pole permit | Holes no wider than 10 inches, except for cisco on Bear Lake; a shelter left out overnight shows the owner's name, phone number and address on two opposite sides |
| Wyoming | Two lines, or up to six on the 28 waters with winter ice provisions, each marked with the angler's name and all within 300 yards | Every enclosed shelter off the water before ice-out |
| Colorado | One line, or two with the second-rod stamp, a tip-up counting as one | Holes no wider than 10 inches; portable shelters off each day where only portables are allowed, permanent ones marked with the owner's name and customer ID |
| Utah | Two poles, or up to six lines on Flaming Gorge, Causey and Porcupine reservoirs and Pelican Lake, each named once more than two are in use | Holes no wider than 12 inches, with exceptions at Flaming Gorge and Fish Lake and up to 18 inches on Bear Lake; a hole for dip-netting cisco may be any size |
Montana's exceptions change its rules water by water, so check the water itself before fishing it.
The shared waters
Three of the region's big waters cross a state line, and the two states have agreed on whose license covers what.
| Water | States | Whose license covers what |
|---|---|---|
| Flaming Gorge Reservoir | Wyoming and Utah | A resident license of either state covers that state's part, and the other state's reciprocal stamp or permit opens the rest; where the limits match, one day's limit for the whole reservoir |
| Bear Lake | Idaho and Utah | Either state's license covers the whole lake, under the rules of the state you are in, with one daily limit |
| Lake Powell | Utah and Arizona | Either state's license covers both parts, with one daily limit |
Wyoming's reciprocal stamp for Flaming Gorge costs $30.
State by state
Season dates, local reports, stocking and the engine outlook for each state, with its sub-regions. Everything above this point is what crosses state lines.
Montana
7 sub-regionsA Montana license runs to the end of February, so this season's covers the whole winter. Lakes and reservoirs are open all year, but rivers and streams in the Western District close after November 30 unless an exception keeps them open, while those in the Central and Eastern districts stay open. Any walleye caught in the Western District must be killed and reported.
Read the Montana report
Idaho
7 sub-regionsIdaho's annual licenses expire on December 31, so anyone fishing in January on one needs a 2027 license, and a steelhead permit to fish for steelhead. This year's steelhead return is among the lowest on record: the fall limit is two a day statewide, and the Clearwater basin is catch and release only. On the Idaho side of Bear Lake, cisco may be dip-netted from January 1 to February 15.
Read the Idaho report
Wyoming
8 sub-regionsA Wyoming license lasts 12 months from the day it is bought, so the dates that matter are your own. Fishing is open all year, around the clock, except on listed waters, and up to six lines may be fished through the ice on the 28 waters with winter ice provisions, Flaming Gorge, Boysen and Glendo among them. Last winter much of the state had little safe ice.
Read the Wyoming report
Colorado
9 sub-regionsA Colorado annual license runs 13 months, to March 31, so this season's covers the whole winter. Through the ice, one line unless you carry the second-rod stamp, holes no wider than 10 inches, and portable shelters off the ice each day where only portables are allowed. Anyone 18 to 64 also needs the Habitat Stamp once a year.
Read the Colorado report
Utah
11 sub-regionsA Utah license is good for 365 days from the day it is bought. No kokanee may be kept anywhere in the state through November 30, and from November 1 every walleye caught at Mantua Reservoir must be killed. The rules the Wildlife Board approved in September arrive with the 2027 guidebook, expected on January 1, so read the new one before a trip after New Year.
Read the Utah report
The weather and the water from November to February, most years
This part does not change from year to year, which is why it is worth reading before the forecast rather than after it.
- The weather
- Winter in the mountains is set by elevation more than by latitude. The high valleys and basins sit in deep cold for weeks at a time, inversions trap frigid air on the valley floors while the slopes above stay milder, and Pacific storms bury the ranges in snow. Chinook winds can lift the temperature by tens of degrees in hours along the eastern face of the Rockies, and the low desert valleys of Utah and southern Idaho stay comparatively mild.
- The water
- The high lakes and reservoirs freeze for months, many of them thick enough for vehicles, while the tailwaters below the big dams stay open because they draw from deep in the reservoirs. Freestone rivers run low and clear, with shelf ice along the banks and anchor ice on the coldest mornings, and the lower prairie reservoirs freeze later and thinner than the mountain ones.
- How the quarter breaks
- It opens as the brown trout finish spawning, with the last open-water days on the reservoirs and steelhead moving up the Idaho rivers. December to February is ice season on the high lakes and reservoirs, from the prairie east of the mountains to the plateaus of Utah, and midge season on the tailwaters, with the Bear Lake cisco spawning in January. It closes with longer afternoons, the first blue-winged olives on the rivers and the ice at lower elevations going soft.
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9Nov 8 for the Panhandle lakes in Idaho | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
What our engine expects on the tailwaters, the trout rivers and the big reservoirs
Everything above this point either happened or happens every winter. This part is a forecast for the two weeks from the date stamped below, scored by the same engine that runs the rest of this site: water temperature, wind, river flow, rain, pressure, cloud, air temperature, UV, humidity and solunar, weighted by species and by season.
A two-week stretch of Mountain West winter runs from deep cold in the high basins to thaws in the valleys, with each reservoir freezing at its own pace. The water temperature column identifies the source at each anchor: a thermometer reading, satellite analysis, or a labeled model. We withhold waters when the available reading does not represent them. Good hours counts the hours at or above a B-plus, which says how long a day holds.
This is a weather forecast, so it covers two weeks and not the season, and the further out a date sits the less it is worth. No forecast can say whether the ice will hold you, and none of these states measures it for anglers. We publish a grade, not a promise.
Engine outlook generated November 3, 2026, covering 40 waters.
What this report does not cover
- This is a seasonal guide, not a continuously updated field report. Its engine outlook covers only the dated two-week window. For current conditions use the reporters named in each state's section.
- Ice is not in this edition: it changes by the day and by elevation, and last winter much of Wyoming had almost none.
- Water-by-water rules are not printed; each state section gives the statewide rules, and many waters, Montana's exceptions above all, set their own.
- License prices are printed as read on October 20, and Utah's rules change with the 2027 guidebook.
Waters we are not grading in this outlook
Some waters that would otherwise appear in the outlook are left out of it, because the nearest water-temperature station sits on a different water or because no thermometer we can read measures them, and on a tailwater a model built on the air cannot see the release. Water temperature is between a fifth and a third of the score. The ones held back are listed below, each with the station it was offered instead.
- South Platte River near Deckers (CO): nearest station is SOUTH PLATTE RIVER ABV STRONTIA SPGS RESERVOIR, CO
- Henrys Fork near Island Park (ID): nearest station is Madison River near West Yellowstone, MT
- South Fork Snake River near Irwin (ID): nearest station is SNAKE RIVER ABOVE RESERVOIR, NEAR ALPINE, WY
- North Platte River at Alcova (WY)