Game and Fish Department presents updated fishing regulations for North Fork

By Sunday Schuh Assistant Editor

For anglers, the North Fork of the Shoshone River is one of the best outdoor recreation areas in the region; some might even say it is a best-kept secret among the handful of guides and local fishermen who frequent the waterway. Unlike the overcrowded and overfished rivers of Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, the North Fork provides a uniquely serene environment that has supported fishing in our community for decades. This coming year, the North Fork may see changes to that dynamic, including adjustments to creel limit regulations and an extended fishing season in early April. 

Currently, fishing on the North Fork is prohibited from April 1st to June 30th, “no one alive today has legally fished the North Fork River in April or May; it’s been off limits for 140 years,” said Cody regional fisheries supervisor, Sam Hochhalter. The proposed changes would extend the fishing season for an additional two weeks; a potential prime fishing period. “Those two weeks will be very, very good fishing; we’ve seen wide variability at the time of year when those trout enter the North Fork and I believe that additional opportunity is meaningful, and it’s going to be a really exceptional fishing opportunity,” commented Hochhalter. The new regulations also include an increased bag limit of six trout per day with no more than two rainbow cutthroat, or rainbow/cutthroat hybrid trout for the river and reservoir; an increase from the current three fish limit.

A public meeting was held at the regional Game and Fish office earlier this year to address some of the concerns local anglers and stakeholders had regarding the new regulations; one of those concerns being the sustainability of the trout population if the fishing season were extended until April 15th. However, according to Hochhalter, these changes aren’t intended or expected to affect the trout populations at all. “We don’t want regulations that could potentially increase harvest or exploitation. I think it’s a very safe set of changes and we don’t anticipate any biological changes tied to this regulation change,” he added. 

Anglers have also expressed their concerns about the complex species rules that would go into effect in early 2026. Due to the high amount of hybridization among trout species, changing the creel limit from three (only one over 18 inches) to six (only two cutthroat, rainbow, or hybrid) trout would essentially bring the limit down to two fish instead of increasing it. “We had proposed [a six fish limit] and you would think on face value we’re offering more opportunity to harvest, but the twist is that only two can be rainbow trout, rainbow-cutthroat hybrid, or cutthroat trout, and because the vast majority of trout in the river are rainbows or hybrids, functionally it would be a two fish limit, so we would go from three down to two,” said Hochhalter. “The reason we’re interested in having a six-fish limit is that the term trout bundles in a whole bunch of different species; we have seen a significant increase in brown trout in the reservoir and ideally we have the same bag limit for the reservoir as for the river,” he added. 

Local stakeholders expressed that these rules could get too complicated for the average fisherman, and eventually lead to unintentional overharvesting. “What I know is gonna happen is you’re going to get people in here that don’t know their species very well and they’re going to have a hard time distinguishing between fish,” said local fly fishing guide and North Fork Anglers owner, Blair Van Antwerp. For the North Fork, where most fishing is simply a casual pursuit for families looking to spend a sunny Saturday outside, coming up with practical rules that can be easily adhered to is challenging. “We, as people responsible for establishing the regulations, can’t really get caught up in the ‘what-if’ scenarios. You could take a look at any of our regulations and ‘what-if’ your way into saying a lot of things don’t work,” continued Hochhalter. “It’s really easy for people to start conjuring up scenarios like tourists overharvesting, but at the end of the day we just have to have faith that most people are out there to do what’s right and we have law enforcement to help guide them,” Hochhalter added. 

Van Antwerp expressed that for local fishermen and guides, the new rules might be a step in the right direction, but just not quite far enough to make the impact Game and Fish is hoping for. “Well, something needs to be done, definitely. I’m glad that they’re acknowledging that; is it what I think is the best thing? Probably not, but I don’t think there’s just one way to do this; you’re not gonna make everybody happy, there’s just no way,” said Van Antwerp. 

“I think for most of the population these are positive changes, but I’m hoping there’s more revisions, what I’d like to see is getting bait off the water,” he added. The mortality rates of fish hooked with bait as opposed to an artificial device are significantly higher, and by the time an angler realizes they’ve caught a fish they need to release back into the river, the chances of it already being dead or close to dead are high. “I think if they’re gonna have a limit and you can only keep a certain number of fish, a certain species, certain sizes of this and that, you have to go artificial only; you just have to, it’s too hard to do any sort of catch and release,” Van Antwerp added. 

The new regulations are a direct response to the results of a four-year long study conducted by the Game and Fish Department through extensive tagging research and over 600 surveys, in which Van Antwerp was a participant. But at this point in the process, there is still potential for revisions. Once the regulations are approved by both the Game and Fish administration in Cheyenne and the state Attorney General’s office, Game and Fish will enter into an official comment period, in which the public will have the opportunity to submit official comments and from there, it’s the Wyoming Game and Fish commission’s job to adopt the regulation changes. “We’re very early in the process, but I have full confidence that this will be in front of our commission, and ultimately it’s up to them to decide whether they agree with me or not,” said Hochhalter. If adopted, these changes won’t go into effect until spring of 2026, which Van Antwerp argues, might be too late. “By the time [Game and Fish] gets their data and compiles it, it’s pretty much almost too late,” he said, “you have their science, and then you have the overall angler experience. I know they say populations are going down, but we see it go down fast, and we’ve been seeing it for a long time; it’s not matching up at all,” he added.

On the other hand, Hochhalter feels that the Game and Fish has done its job to protect the river’s assets while continuing to make it as accessible as possible for sportsmen; “we feel like our current proposal fits both the biological and the social side of this issue,” he said. “If you look across fish and wildlife regulations, a lot of them are old and when you are looking at something that’s been in place for, in this case a century and a half, some members of the public are concerned when they hear about a change in fishing regulations, but I encourage you to ask a lot of questions; just because something has been in place forever doesn’t mean that that’s what’s necessary or best,'“ said Hochhalter.

Stay tuned via the Wyoming Game and Fish Department website for more information and upcoming opportunities for comment regarding North Fork and Buffalo Bill Reservoir fishing regulations.