Eagle Lake rainbow trout spawning operations wrapped up in May, with 1.6 million eggs collected. The majority of the eggs were shipped to Game and Fish’s Daniel and Clark’s Fork hatcheries and the Wigwam Rearing Stations. The remaining eggs were shipped to a private hatchery and the Bellvue-Watson Fish Hatchery in Colorado. 

Personnel also shipped 285,000 Bear River cutthroat production eggs to Dubois and Clark’s Fork hatcheries in May and 309,000 to Speas Hatchery in April. 

The initial sort on the golden trout broodstock was done at the end of May and a first take of eggs was completed. 

Also in May, a hatchery fish culturist travelled to Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery in North Dakota to transport 130,000 northern pike back to Keyhole Reservoir. Hatchery and fisheries management personnel then hand-sorted and inspected the fish before being stocked in the reservoir. 

“From the early to mid-2000s, when water levels at Keyhole were low, we stocked northern pike almost annually,” said Sheridan Region Fisheries Biologist Andrew Nikirk. “Since 2011 however, water levels have remained higher which sustains natural reproduction, so our stocking schedule has been more intermittent, with the previous two stockings in 2012 and 2019.”

Additional stocking of channel catfish was completed in Black Elk Pond and Geier Reservoir in Weston County, and community fisheries throughout northeast Wyoming received spring stockings of trout.

Three seasonal fisheries technicians began work in May and along with regional fisheries staff, began field population surveys of multiple regional waters. Staff also assisted at several youth fishing days and educational events in the Sheridan Region.