Suddenly, the New Year doesn’t seem as new as it did a few short weeks ago. That could be in part because you’ve already given up on all those great New Year’s resolutions you made as the clock struck midnight on December 31. Maybe that’s ok for some of those, but there’s still time to make a New Year’s resolution that’s worth sticking to – like definitely fishing more this year.

Maybe one of the reasons you haven’t fulfilled those intentions before is you didn’t know exactly where you wanted to go fishing. If that’s the case, we can help. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department offers the X-Stream Angler program – a challenge of sorts that rewards your efforts to fish in at least three streams protected with instream flow water rights with a free baseball cap.  

The X-Stream Angler has triggered lots of folks to step off the beaten path to fish some familiar streams, as well as others that aren’t so familiar. In doing so they’ve discovered the Game and Fish has been hard at work protecting stream fisheries all over the state for you and future generations of anglers just like you.

To participate and get a free hat all you need to do is visit the X-Stream Angler web page, select at least three streams from the interactive map (that shows all the instream flow segments in the state), go fishing, and then send in an application with a picture of you at each stream. That may sound complicated, but we’ve tried to fix that by showing the exact location of each segment and providing detailed driving directions.

OK, it’s winter and you’re thinking you’ll have to put this off until summer. That would normally be plenty of time to forget about what could be your greatest New Year’s resolution of all. But don’t worry, this is an idea you can act on right now. The fact is there are several top notch trout streams with instream flow water rights within easy walking distance of several major highways in the state.  Consider these two trips: 

• If you’re in Cody, go fish the tailwaters of the Shoshone River right in town, then run up highway 120 and fish the Clarks Fork at the end of the pavement in Clarks Fork Canyon.  From there take a quick swing over to Greybull and run up to Shell Creek where it comes off the Forest Service boundary.  You’ve just earned a free hat whether you catch any fish or not.  
• If that’s too far to go, hop over to Lander and fish the Little Popo Agie public fishing area south of town. Then head up to Dubois and fish one of the public fishing areas of the Big Wind along highway 26.  When you’re done there, swing into the Dubois Fish Hatchery (say hi to the hatchery crew and take a short tour if you’d like) and fish the Jakey’s Fork.  

If neither of these options is your cup of tea, well, check out the X-Stream Angler interactive map and pick three other streams – there are several more streams that are easily reached in the winter.
Becoming an X-Stream Angler needn’t be any harder than that. You don’t have to wait for summer to go fishing and you sure don’t need to give up on all your New Year’s resolutions just yet!


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By Tom Annear, Game and Fish Water Management Supervisor