A 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.
What to fish for in early November
Wyoming's cold months hang on ice that some years barely comes. Below its dams the North Platte near Casper gives trout every month, the impoundments of the center and the northeast hold walleye, perch and pike in a winter cold enough to freeze them, and the deep lakes of the southwest and the Wind River Range give lake trout, with burbot under Flaming Gorge's ice.
These notes cover the whole winter, the ice included. In early November, the six lakes in the season tables that get near freezing are usually still open water, at 46 to 52F.
Rainbow Trout
Keeps feeding on scuds and tiny flies all season, which is why people drive to Casper in January, and the browns in the same water run big.
Where. The Miracle Mile below Kortes Dam and the river below Gray Reef Dam toward Casper.
The rainbow trout waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Buffalo Bill Reservoir about 50F Best Sun, Nov 8, A+Today's forecast Lake Trout
Grows enormous and is caught on heavy spoons and tubes fished deep, from a boat or a hole.
Where. Fremont Lake above Pinedale, Flaming Gorge and Fontenelle, and Jackson Lake under the Tetons.
The lake trout waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Flaming Gorge Reservoir about 50F Best Sun, Nov 8, B+Today's forecast Fremont Lake about 46F Best Mon, Nov 9, A+Today's forecast Walleye
Moves shallow at dawn and dusk, and is the main catch on the central impoundments once they freeze.
Where. Boysen, Glendo, Seminoe and Pathfinder, and Keyhole in the northeast.
The walleye waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Boysen Reservoir about 52F Best Mon, Nov 9, A+Today's forecast Keyhole Reservoir about 47F Best Thu, Nov 5, AToday's forecast Glendo Reservoir about 50F Best Fri, Nov 6, A+Today's forecast Yellow Perch
Schools in the shallower bays of the basin reservoirs and gives a steady bite through the ice while the walleye are slow.
Where. Boysen and Ocean Lake near Riverton.
Northern Pike
Hunts the weedy shallows under the ice of the northeast reservoir, taken on tip-ups with dead bait.
Where. Keyhole Reservoir near Moorcroft.
Usual water now is that water's normal for this point in the season: a lake's modeled seasonal curve or a river gauge's long-run average, not this year's reading. The forecast link reads this week's.
What changes soon
Nothing on this report's calendar for Wyoming in the next six weeks.
This week's fishing reports
This report covers the season. For what was caught this week, read the people who report on this water.
Wyoming has no regular winter reporter. Game and Fish publishes no fishing report and sends anglers to its regional offices for ice, and the tailwater shops post no dated reports. Cowboy State Daily covers the ice season as news, quoting the marinas, and last winter it reported an almost iceless season. The Moorcroft Leader prints a story on Keyhole's ice each January.
Where to fish in Wyoming, area by area
Each water links to its live forecast. The engine outlook in these areas was generated November 3, 2026, for the 14 days from that date; good hours are the hours at or above a B+.
The North Platte tailwaters
North Platte River (Gray Reef, Miracle Mile) · Gray Reef Reservoir · Pathfinder Reservoir · Alcova Reservoir
The North Platte where the dams below Seminoe hold it: the Miracle Mile between Kortes Dam and Pathfinder, and the river from Gray Reef Dam down toward Casper, cold and rich water carrying a great many trout per mile and big rainbows and browns, fished from drift boats and the bank all year.
Who reports here. No dated winter report could be found: the Casper shops post none, and Game and Fish publishes no fishing report. Its regional office in Casper answers by phone. The outlook leaves the river out: no live thermometer measures it below the dams, and a model built on the air cannot see the release.
Flaming Gorge Reservoir
Flaming Gorge Reservoir · Fontenelle Reservoir
The long canyon reservoir on the Green River that runs from the Wyoming sagebrush south into the red rock of Utah, shared by the two states, known for very large lake trout, smallmouth, kokanee and burbot, with an ice cover that does not form every winter.
Who reports here. Cowboy State Daily covers the ice season as news, quoting the marinas: last March it reported that the reservoir never fully froze and its ice derbies were canceled, while Fontenelle held ice through most of February.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, B+10 good hours53F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 4h
Jackson Hole and the Snake
Snake River · Jackson Lake · Hoback River
The Snake River from Jackson Lake Dam in Grand Teton National Park down through Jackson Hole and into its canyon toward Alpine, native fine-spotted cutthroat water, with Jackson Lake under the Tetons holding lake trout.
Who reports here. No dated winter report could be found. Orvis keeps a page on the river, updated as recently as October 19, so check its date before trusting it in winter.
Engine outlook
- Best: Mon, Nov 9, A8 good hours48F measured Nov 3 at SNAKE RIVER BELOW FLAT CREEK, NEAR JACKSON, WYbest run 8h1520 cfsat SNAKE RIVER BELOW FLAT CREEK, NEAR JACKSON, WYon this water
Boysen and the Wind River
Boysen Reservoir · Wind River · Bighorn River · Ocean Lake
Boysen Reservoir in the basin north of Riverton and Shoshoni, for walleye, perch and trout, the Wind River above it and through Wind River Canyon on the reservation below the dam, where it becomes the Bighorn near Thermopolis, and Ocean Lake near Riverton.
Who reports here. Cowboy State Daily covers the ice season here as news, quoting the marina: on January 7 last winter it found the reservoir nearly completely open, the season at least a month late, and the mid-January derby unlikely to happen.
Engine outlook
- Best: Mon, Nov 9, A+9 good hours53F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 5h
Keyhole Reservoir
Keyhole Reservoir
The reservoir on the Belle Fourche in the northeast near Moorcroft and Pine Haven, inside Keyhole State Park, holding walleye, crappie and northern pike.
Who reports here. The Moorcroft Leader has run a story on the ice each January for the last two winters, quoting the state park superintendent: on January 8 last winter it measured 2 to 4 inches and was thickening.
Engine outlook
- Best: Thu, Nov 5, A8 good hours49F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 5h
Glendo and the Laramie Plains lakes
Glendo Reservoir · Lake Hattie · Twin Buttes Lake · Saratoga Lake
Glendo Reservoir on the North Platte downstream of Casper, for walleye, and the high, windy lakes of the Laramie Plains west of Laramie, Lake Hattie and Twin Buttes, with Saratoga Lake beyond the Snowy Range, trout water through the ice.
Who reports here. No dated winter report could be found for these lakes. The newest angler newsletter from Game and Fish's Laramie region that turned up dates from 2017.
Engine outlook
- Best: Fri, Nov 6, A+10 good hours52F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 4h
Buffalo Bill Reservoir and the Shoshone
Buffalo Bill Reservoir · North Fork Shoshone River · Shoshone River · Sunshine Reservoirs
Buffalo Bill Reservoir west of Cody, where the North and South forks of the Shoshone meet below Yellowstone's east entrance road, a windy lake whose ice is never certain, with the Shoshone running on through town and the Sunshine Reservoirs near Meeteetse.
Who reports here. Cowboy State Daily reported in March that the big reservoir never froze last winter, quoting a local angler who expects fishable ice by the end of January in a normal year. A derby on the smaller reservoirs to the south was set for January 30 to February 1.
Engine outlook
- Best: Sun, Nov 8, A+13 good hours52F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 13h
Fremont Lake and the Pinedale lakes
Fremont Lake · Half Moon Lake · Boulder Lake · New Fork River
The deep glacial lakes along the foot of the Wind River Range around Pinedale, Fremont Lake above town for lake trout, rainbows and browns, Half Moon and Boulder nearby, and the New Fork and the upper Green in the sage below them.
Who reports here. Pinedale Online carries the Lions Club's Big Fish Winter Derby on Fremont Lake each year, in early March, with the ice the club measured, 6 to 18 inches in 2025. No report from inside the winter itself could be found.
Engine outlook
- Best: Mon, Nov 9, A+9 good hours49F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 7h
The rules from November to February
What changed this time
- The current fishing regulations, Chapter 46 as revised, took effect on January 1, 2026; the brochure marks what changed in blue.
Read on October 20, 2026, from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (Chapter 46 of the Commission's regulations, its 2026 fishing brochure, its license fee list and its ice safety releases).
Licenses, and which state's rules apply
- A Wyoming license lasts 12 months from the day it is bought, and a 12-month license needs a conservation stamp as well ($21.50). Residents pay $27 for 12 months or $6 a day ($3 for 12 months at 14 to 17); nonresidents $102, $14 a day or $56 for five days ($15 for 12 months under 18). Anglers under 14 need no license, but a nonresident child without one shares the accompanying adult's limit. Residents 65 and older with 30 years of residency can get a free lifetime pioneer license.
- On Flaming Gorge, a Wyoming or a Utah resident license covers that state's part of the reservoir, and the other state's reciprocal stamp ($30 for Wyoming's) opens the whole of it. Where the two states' limits are the same, one day's limit is the most anyone may take from the whole reservoir.
Bait, gear and fish you cannot keep
- Fishing is open all year, around the clock, except where a water's exception says otherwise. Through the ice, hand lines, set lines, poles and tip-ups are all legal while the angler is in attendance. Amphibians and reptiles may not be used as bait, and crayfish only live in the water they were caught in.
Lakes, ponds and rivers
- Statewide creel limits: six trout, three of them on streams, with only one over 16 inches; 16 brook trout; six lake trout and splake, one over 24 inches; six walleye; six bass; one tiger muskie of at least 36 inches; 50 yellow perch, crappie and other panfish combined; three burbot; two sauger. Northern pike limits are set by drainage, and each drainage's exceptions come first.
- On the Snake River every cutthroat trout goes back from November 1 to March 31, from the Yellowstone boundary down to Jackson Lake and from below Jackson Lake Dam down to Palisades Reservoir, apart from a short stretch just below the dam.
Through the ice
- More than two lines are allowed only through the ice on the 28 waters with Special Winter Ice Fishing Provisions, Flaming Gorge, Boysen, Glendo, Pathfinder, Seminoe, Keyhole and Lake DeSmet among them: up to six, each marked with the angler's name, all within 300 yards and checked by the angler. Every enclosed shelter must come off the water before ice-out.
- Game and Fish puts safe fishing ice at four inches or more, checked every 100 to 150 feet. Clear ice is stronger than cloudy or white ice. Do not fish alone, and carry an ice pick and a life jacket.
Read on these agency pages: Wyoming Game and Fish: 2026 Fishing Regulations brochure (PDF), Wyoming Game and Fish: License Fee List, Wyoming Game and Fish Commission Chapter 46: Fishing Regulations (PDF), Wyoming Game and Fish news, January 27, 2025: Stay safe on the ice this winter.
The season at a glance
What these months usually do
Each lake's own seasonal curve, the one the engine scores the lake on: what these dates usually do, modeled rather than measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boysen Reservoir | 53F | 43F | 37F | 35F | 35F |
| Buffalo Bill Reservoir | 51F | 41F | 36F | 35F | 34F |
| Flaming Gorge Reservoir | 51F | 44F | 37F | 35F | 35F |
| Fremont Lake | 47F | 36F | 36F | 35F | 35F |
| Glendo Reservoir | 51F | 41F | 35F | 34F | 35F |
| Keyhole Reservoir | 48F | 37F | 35F | 34F | 35F |
Each river's own gauge: its average for these dates across the years it has recorded, measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snake River near JacksonSNAKE RIVER BELOW FLAT CREEK, NEAR JACKSON, WY, 2022 to 2026 | 42F | 35F | 33F | 34F | 35F |
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9 | 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.
Daylight in each area from November to February
Worked out for one place in each area, on its own clock.
| Area | Shortest day | Earliest sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|---|---|---|
| The North Platte tailwatersat North Platte River at Alcova | 9h 3m, Dec 21 | 4:35pm, around Dec 9 | 7:38am, around Jan 3 |
| Flaming Gorge Reservoirat Flaming Gorge Reservoir | 9h 12m, Dec 21 | 4:51pm, around Dec 8 | 7:45am, around Jan 4 |
| Jackson Hole and the Snakeat Snake River near Jackson | 8h 57m, Dec 21 | 4:48pm, around Dec 9 | 7:57am, around Jan 2 |
| Boysen and the Wind Riverat Boysen Reservoir | 8h 58m, Dec 21 | 4:38pm, around Dec 9 | 7:46am, around Jan 3 |
| Keyhole Reservoirat Keyhole Reservoir | 8h 50m, Dec 21 | 4:22pm, around Dec 10 | 7:37am, around Jan 2 |
| Glendo and the Laramie Plains lakesat Glendo Reservoir | 9h 3m, Dec 21 | 4:28pm, around Dec 9 | 7:31am, around Jan 3 |
| Buffalo Bill Reservoir and the Shoshoneat Buffalo Bill Reservoir | 8h 50m, Dec 21 | 4:39pm, around Dec 10 | 7:54am, around Jan 2 |
| Fremont Lake and the Pinedale lakesat Fremont Lake | 9h 0m, Dec 21 | 4:46pm, around Dec 9 | 7:52am, around Jan 3 |