Flaming Gorge Management
Flaming Gorge Reservoir spans Wyoming and Utah, and the fishery is co-managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
The popular fishery attracts anglers searching for trophy kokanee salmon and lake trout, with anglers traveling from neighboring states to exploit the abundance of lake trout less than 25 inches. Recently kokanee salmon populations have been lower than just a few years ago. The reduction is likely due to the increase in small lake trout and recent reservoir drawdowns.
This is just one of the illegally introduced burbot in Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The Green River fisheries crew caught this fish during annual gill netting operations. The burbot has swallowed a rainbow trout whole.
Sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000, someone or some persons illegally introduced burbot, also known as ling, into the Green River Drainage. The invasive species began showing up in WGFD Green River netting surveys in 2003—their presence has changed area fishing management and opportunities forever. The only way to have some control of burbot is with angler harvest and liberal regulations.
Fishing for illegally transplanted burbot in the Green River drainage has become popular with ice anglers. Fishery managers have set liberal regulations on burbot to encourage anglers to harvest as many burbot as possible and help suppress these voracious non-native predators. There is no limit on burbot in Area 4, which includes all of the Green River drainage, including Flaming Gorge, Fontenelle Reservoir and Big Sandy Reservoir.
Fall 2023 Fishery Update
Tips for catching lake trout
Catching and keeping small lake trout benefits the trophy lake trout and kokanee salmon populations. Below are tips for catching lake trout.
Lake trout recipes
Catching and keeping small lake trout benefits the trophy lake trout and kokanee salmon populations. Below are tips for cooking lake trout.
Tips for catching burbot
The only way to have some control of the burbot is with angler harvest and liberal regulations. Below are tips for catching the burbot.
Burbot recipes
The only way to have some control of the burbot is with angler harvest and liberal regulations. Below are tips for cooking the burbot.
Burbot and lake trout fishing locations
This document includes images of Flaming Gorge Reservoir clipped from Navionics ChartViewer. Color-coded circles have been added to the images to identify Burbot and small Lake Trout locations that, in years prior, have been shown to hold fish. Many of these locations are validated as they have been fished by Department biologists over the years.