Some of Wyoming’s most productive fish offerings near Laramie

I don’t often look beyond Colorado for fishing destinations, but fall southeast Wyoming trout waters can be exceptional and many are within reasonable and close driving distances.

Within less than a one-hour drive from nearby Laramie, anglers will find some of the state’s most productive fishing offerings: Gelatt, Meeboer, Leazenby, Twin Buttes and Alsop, the Laramie Plains Lakes, house-proud-size rainbows, Snake River cutthroat and some German Browns.

Gelatt Lake rainbows, for example, average more than 18 1/2 inches and cutthroats exceed 17-inch average size. Twenty percent of the trout sampled at Gelatt Lake are more than 20 inches in length. Rainbows in nearby Twin Buttes Reservoir average 17.4 inches. Alsop Lake ranks top-dog in rainbow species with an average size over 22 inches.

The Laramie region fish office found an exceptional partner in the Laramie Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter that donated $ 35,000 to install aerators at Meeboer Lake in 2013 to introduce more oxygen in the lake water during frigid winter temperatures. “The aerators have been doing a fabulous job and we’re really seeing the results of that in our sampling,” said regional fish biologist Steve Gale.

Gale pointed out the Laramie Plains Lakes are quite productive. “We can stock a 6- to 7-inch fish in April and it will already be 16 inches by September,” he said. Shallow depth, abundance of aquatic insects and good oxygen content are the ingredients for this exceptional fish growth and health.

Above-average winter snowfall and seasonal rains have provided good water supplies and conditions for fish food sources and exceptional fish growth. 2015 has produced the best fishing success in recent years and that opportunity will extend into the fall and winter months. Check the state website wgfd.wyo.gov for regulations and additional fishing information and maps.