GREEN RIVER – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Green River Region will host an online virtual meeting to discuss proposed changes to fishing and watercraft regulations.
The department reviews the regulations in Chapter 46 (Fisheries) and Chapter 22 (Watercraft).
The zoom virtual meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 18, at 6 p.m. Interested parties can register here. After registering, you will receive an email with a link and password to attend the meeting.
Proposed changes to fishing regulations in southwest Wyoming include changing the gate boundary for Kokanee salmon at Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The current trout and kokanee ordinance has a gate limit of four fish per day or owned, and a maximum of three can be kokanee salmon. In order to simplify the regulation, Game and Fish suggests the sentence “No more than three are allowed to be Kokanee salmon.
Fisheries managers said there was no evidence that allowing anglers to keep an extra Kokanee salmon would affect the fishery. Wyoming Game and Fish, the Department of Wildlife Resources in Utah, and the Jones Hole National Fish Hatchery hold more than 1 million 3-inch Kokanee in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir each year, and fisheries managers are confident that the population can cope with the increased harvest can.
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The fisheries managers will also discuss a proposed change regarding smallmouth bass in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The regulation currently stipulates that all black bass must be returned to the water immediately. To stay in line with Utah state fishing regulations, the department is proposing to add a gate limit of three black bass per day or owned. Spear rifles should note that there is also a proposal to ban the use of spear rifles to pick up smallmouth bass from April 1 to the fourth Saturday of June each year to protect spawning fish.
Also to be discussed is the proposal to add a gate limit of six trout per day or in possession of the High Savery Reservoir. No more than one trout may exceed 20 inches. This proposed change will allow tiger trout to reach trophy size and hunt an overabundance of non-native white suckers in the reservoir.
A final proposal for the Green River region involves removing an ordinance on fishing restrictions on the pond at Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston because the pond no longer supports fish.
Copies of the proposed Regulations are available on the Division’s website under Chapter 1 of the Regulations on Access to Public Records. A list of all meetings and registration links can be found here.
Written comments are accepted online or by mail until 5:00 p.m. June 4: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Regulations, 3030 Energy Lane, Casper, WY 82604; and will be presented to the Game and Fish Commission prior to the public hearing on July 13-15 in Sheridan.
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