CHEYENNE – With thousands of Wyoming boats now sporting Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Decals, several questions have been raised by boaters concerning the decal program.
A few of the more common questions are as follows:
What is the money from the AIS decal used for? The AIS decal program is a funding mechanism for the AIS program. This includes boat inspections and decontaminations, equipment, training and information and education efforts to inform the public and prevent the introduction of AIS to Wyoming waters.
Where can I get an AIS decal? The decals are available online at http://gf.state.wy.us and at automated license selling agents across Wyoming.
Where do I place my decal? For motorized watercraft, AIS decals shall be placed on the starboard (right) side, six inches back of the watercraft registration number. For non-motorized watercraft, AIS decals shall be placed on the starboard side of the bow. All decals shall be placed in a visible manner while the watercraft is underway.
If I buy a boat that has a decal, do I need a new decal? No. The AIS decal remains attached to the watercraft and is good for the calendar year.
Will a decal speed up my inspection process? The decal does not mean the boat has been inspected, so an inspection will still be required prior to launch. However, if you have a decal and it is attached to your boat as prescribed, that is one task you won’t have to worry about the rest of the year.
What if a decal gets lost? If you lose your decal, you will need to buy another. There is no duplicate process for a reduced fee as there is with hunting and fishing licenses.
Why are some inflatable rafts exempt from decals? Inflatable watercraft under 10 feet present a very low risk for transporting AIS because they typically do not hold or transport water, do not have hard surfaces for zebra or quagga mussels to attach to and are not moored in the water long enough for the mussels to attach.
Additional information on AIS and frequently asked questions on the decal program can be found online at: http://gf.state.wy.us/fish/AIS/FAQ/index.asp#decals.
CASPER – Walk-in area fishing atlases for 2010 are now available at Game and Fish offices and license agencies throughout the state. The atlas contains maps which show the fishing areas and list the species of fish available in each area.
The walk-in program has been responsible for establishing access to streams and lakes and ponds throughout Wyoming. Walk-in fishing areas are part of the same public access program that provides walk-in and hunter management area access for hunting on private lands.
According to Game and Fish public land access coordinator Matt Buhler, fishing areas now available through the walk-in fishing access program encompass 4,944 acres of lake/pond access and nearly 97 miles of stream access on private lands. Buhler said that many of these areas allow anglers to get through private lands to get to public lands where much more access is available.
Buhler reminded anglers to respect the private lands they are using. “There is a great opportunity to get outside and take advantage of the fishing areas provided to anglers through the walk-in fishing program,” he said. This opportunity is provided only because private landowners choose to enroll their property for fishing access.”
The walk-in fishing areas supplement the more than 100 places to fish that anglers can access through Game and Fish public access easements and Game and Fish wildlife habitat management areas. In addition, Wyoming has extensive public fishing opportunities on National Forest, Bureau of Land Management and Wyoming State lands.
The walk-in atlas contains 58 fishing spots in 11 drainages. In addition to WGFD offices and license agents, atlases can be found on line at http://gf.state.wy.us. Fishing atlases are valid for the calendar year.
The walk-in program is funded, to a large extent through the Game and Fish AccessYes program. The AccessYes program is comprised of contributions from anglers and hunters made at the time of license purchases and applications.
“All access locations in a walk-in or hunter management area are brought to you through donations made to AccessYes,” Buhler said. “All donations go directly to the easements for your access.”
GRAY REEF TROUT NUMBERS DOWN…BUT FISHING IS STILL GOOD
CASPER – Fish population surveys completed in 2009 on the popular Gray Reef and Narrows sections of the North Platte River near Casper revealed a good news, and a not so good news situation. First, the good news. The river still has a lot of fish and a lot of big fish. For the not so good news, the river doesn’t have the astounding numbers of fish it had several years ago.
Casper fisheries biologist Matt Hahn said the current estimate in the eight mile stretch from Gray Reef dam to the Lusby access area is 1,200 trout per mile. Owing to the size of the fish this works out to more than 2,400 pounds of fish per mile…numbers which more than qualify the water as a blue ribbon fishery. But, those numbers are only about half of the 2008 total which was 2,100 fish and 4,200 pounds per mile.
Hahn said the reduced numbers are due to an almost total failure of the spawn in 2007. “It was simply a situation where there was too much water at the wrong time,” Hahn said. “There were unusually heavy rains and snow in the spring that put a lot of water in the river from Gray Reef and downstream. “This along with the normal higher releases in spring filled Glendo, and to keep it from spilling, flows were cut back. The fish had already spawned during the high water period and the lower releases from the dam left the majority of the redds high and dry before the eggs could hatch.”
During the spring spawning period, flows are normally kept higher as water is needed to move to Glendo for irrigation, but those high releases weren’t needed throughout the 2007 spawning period.
“The best situation for spawning is stable or steadily increasing flows during the spawning and incubation period of April into July,” Hahn said. “The Bureau of Reclamation does an excellent job of balancing the multiple demands for water in the system while also providing flows to promote the fishery. However, spring floods are not predictable and require changes to be made from the planned operations.”
Hahn did say that while the numbers are down, catch rates are holding steady. “We had big year classes of rainbow trout in 2005-06,” Hahn said. “In Gray Reef, the typical rainbow lives to five or six years of age and then they are out of the population. Gray Reef is managed as a wild fishery and wild fisheries are cyclical in nature. There will always be good and bad years, but the fish will bounce back.”
To a large extent, the number of fish in the popular Gray Reef to Lusby reach is dependent on the numbers of younger fish in the lower reaches below Government Bridge. As they get older, these fish swim upstream which accounts for the large average size of the fish in Gray Reef. To put the 2007 spawn into perspective, surveys in 2008 in the Bessemer Bend area revealed 400 one-year-old rainbow trout per mile. In 2009, the total was 550 one-year-old fish per mile. Contrast this with 2,600 one-year-old fish per mile in 2006 and it is easy to understand the fishing forecast Hahn has for the next two years. “There will be fewer fish and fewer over 18 inches,” Hahn said. “This decrease will also be reflected in a decline in angler catch rates.”
Even though Gray Reef is managed as a wild fishery, the Game and Fish has stocked the river with more than 60,000 rainbows in the 4-7 inch range to buffer the poor recruitment years.
Through years of research, fisheries biologists have a good handle on the age of the fish as it relates to their size. In the Gray Reef and lower section, the typical one-year-old fish is 9-13 inches, two-year-olds are 13-16 inches, age three rainbows are 16- 18 inches and those larger are four plus years of age.
Though rainbows are far and away the most numerous trout in the river, there are also browns and a few cutthroats. While there are undoubtedly larger fish in the river, surveys did turn up rainbows to five pounds and an 11-pound brown.
For the future, the success of the spawn is largely dependent on consistent water flows during the spawning period and until the fry emerge from the gravel. In Gray Reef, for rainbow trout, this is from March into early July. It is critical to spawning success that water flows are not decreased during that period, but sometimes weather conditions, as was the case in 2007, negatively affect the spawn.
For nearly 20 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has assisted the spawning effort by releasing high flows for a few days during the pre spawning period in March. The flushing flows not only benefit spawning trout by removing fine sediments, but also serve to enhance the overall production of invertebrates (i.e. trout food). “With this continued effort along with good water flows, Gray Reef should continue to be one of the top fisheries in the country.” Hahn said.
CHEYENNE – Wyoming has its first fish record of the year thanks to Rawlins angler Levi Porter who reeled in a new state record tiger trout over the Memorial Day weekend from High Savery Reservoir, located approximately 30 miles south of Rawlins. Tiger trout are a sterile cross between brown and brook trout.
The record fish weighed 3.74 pounds and eclipsed the old record of 3.33 pounds that has stood since November 2007. Porter, who fishes High Savery often, was on his first fishing trip of the year and had taken his kids fishing for the weekend. He was fishing from the bank and had caught several fish before the record tiger trout took his power bait and worm combination.
After showing the fish to other anglers at the reservoir, he thought it might be a record and hurried to town where the fish was weighed and verified. In a bit of an unusual twist, Porter’s fish was 21-inches, an inch shorter than the old record which was 22-inches long. But, it is weight that counts, and in the end, Porter’s fish was .41 pounds heavier than the existing record.
The Game and Fish has been expecting a new record tiger trout as High Savery Reservoir is a relatively new reservoir that was first stocked with tiger trout in 2005 and has been stocked with the fish every year since that time. High Savery Reservoir is the only water in the state where the Game and Fish has stocked Tiger Trout.
To qualify for a new fish record, anglers need to get the fish weighed on a certified scale and have it verified by the Game and Fish Department. A listing of state record fish is on the Game and Fish Web site http://gf.state.wy.us.CHEYENNE – As the warmer months approach, interest in fishing is on the increase and more anglers are getting out on Wyoming waters.
With that increased interest also comes a responsibility to become familiar with Wyoming’s fishing regulations and laws. One of the more common questions Game and Fish officials receive from anglers concerns Wyoming’s laws pertaining to stream access on private lands.
As with hunting, where permission must be obtained from the private landowner to hunt or cross private lands, the laws regarding fishing are essentially the same. For boaters, Wyoming law does allow floating through private lands. However, while the landowner does not own the water, the stream bank and stream bottom are considered private property. This means that when floating through private land, anglers must stay in their boat unless access permission has been obtained from the landowner. State law does allow leaving the craft for short portages around non-navigable obstacles. However, activities such as wading and anchoring on private lands without permission of the landowner constitute a trespass violation.
Some of Wyoming’s navigable waters flow through areas where there are both public and private lands. Anglers unsure of the public land status of a particular water may wish to consult public land maps put out by the Bureau of Land Management. These maps are color-coded showing public and private lands. The state BLM office in Cheyenne (307) 775-6256 can advise which map(s) are needed for the different areas in the state.
CHEYENNE – A recent survey by the American Sportfishing Association ranks Wyoming as the top state in the lower 48 for having the highest number of residents who fish based on the percentage of population. Only Alaska ranked higher. The survey included residents 16 and older.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department fisheries chief Mike Stone is pleased with the long standing tradition Wyoming’s residents have in fishing opportunities in the Cowboy state. “Our ranking is undoubtedly due to the interests of Wyoming people,” Stone said. “Residents have a high interest in outdoor activities in Wyoming and streams and lakes play a big role in those activities. At the Game and Fish we strive to maintain a variety of fishing opportunities through our fisheries habitat improvements, hatcheries and regulations.”
Wyoming is also a fishing destination state for residents and nonresidents. Participation is captured in Wyoming’s economy. The 2006 survey revealed that Wyoming anglers spent more than $528 million pursuing their sport during the year, providing an estimated 7,398 jobs. In addition, anglers pumped more than $64 million into state and local tax coffers.
On a national scale, the survey confirmed that recreational fishing is more than just an outing for millions of Americans. Nationwide, America’s nearly 40 million anglers spend more than $45 billion per year on fishing equipment, transportation, lodging, equipment, licenses and more.
Through their purchases, anglers more than any other group, play a major role in fisheries conservation efforts through special taxes on fishing and boating equipment and motorboat fuel. In fiscal year 2007, these taxes provided by Dingell-Johnson and Wallop-Breaux legislation returned nearly $5.5 million to Wyoming to be used for various fisheries programs.
