A goal of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s fish division is to provide angling access within biking distance for children in every community in the state. Many cities and towns have their own fishing area nearby.
In Cheyenne, the most populous city in the state at around 65,000 and the second-largest municipality by land area with more than 24 square miles, community fisheries are limited to two spots — Lake Absarraca and Sloans Lake. They are close to each other on the western edge of the city.
That number looks to increase.
Three community fishing ponds are open or will be soon in Cheyenne: Pasture Pond on the campus of Laramie County Community College, Pointe Pond and Dry Creek Pond. All three were the result of existing ponds. Game and Fish collaborated with partners, especially the Laramie County Conservation District and Laramie County Community College, to revive old ponds into viable fisheries.
“These were picked not only because they were suitable for fish, but because of their location within the city with one south, one east and one north,” said Chance Kirkeeng, Game and Fish assistant fisheries management coordinator, who worked on these ponds when he was a fisheries biologist in Laramie. “Now we will have a pretty even coverage around the city. That’s not to say we’re not looking for more, but it is a lot more balanced in terms of locations.”
THREE OF A KIND
All currently have bluegill and largemouth bass. Those species of fish were chosen due to the warmer temperatures and oxygen levels of each pond.
“It is a pretty straightforward recipe to stock ponds like these,” Kirkeeng said.
“It starts with bluegill stocking at a certain size and a certain number per acre in the first year. Hopefully there is a wild spawn of those fish in the spring. Shortly thereafter, you put in bass. If you follow that recipe and the conditions are suitable, it should always work.”
POINTE POND
Developed in 2002 as part of The Pointe housing development project in north Cheyenne, the pond is about 3 acres. The pond has three operational fountain aerators.
Game and Fish stocked 495 bluegill that were 5.9 inches long in April 2024, and 1,000 bluegill 2 inches long in October 2024. The pond also is home to some large crayfish. Largemouth bass were stocked in late August of this year.
“The pond is open to fishing, and kids have been catching some nice bluegill,” said Stephen Siddons, who was promoted to fisheries supervisor in the Sheridan Region earlier this year, but prior to that was a fisheries biologist in the Laramie Region and worked on these fishing ponds in Cheyenne. “We’re excited to get the bass in there to start trimming down the crayfish.”
The pond lacks submersed, aquatic vegetation, but in mid-August Game and Fish, LCCD and volunteers from Trout Unlimited installed and placed 30 artificial structures in the pond for added habitat. Steve Gale, Game and Fish aquatic habitat biologist in the Laramie Region, said this was the first time in decades that Game and Fish has placed artificial structures in a waterbody to provide habitat for fish. He also said there are plans to do more of this work in the future.
Game and Fish and the LCCD also worked with the Pointe Homeowners Association to improve this pond for community fishing. Last year there was an event at the pond to celebrate what the fishery has become, and could develop into.
“There was a gob of people fishing,” said Jeff Geyer, water specialist for the Laramie County Conservation District. “Kids were having a blast. They were catching crayfish and some fish. I also noticed kids and adults from other neighborhoods catching fish, and that’s what it’s all about — getting kids out and getting them addicted to the outdoors.”
PASTURE POND
Located on the north side of the LCCC campus, the pond consists of 7.7 acre feet of water, about 2 surface acres, and its deepest point is about 8 1/2 feet.
Past fish surveys showed the pond contained black bullhead, black crappie, common carp, fathead minnows, yellow perch and a growing goldfish population from illegal fish releases. This combination of species resulted in poor fishing opportunities as many fish showed slow growth.
Game and Fish chemically treated the pond with rotenone in August 2024 to remove the existing fish, and later that fall stocked fathead minnows and 1,000 2-inch-long bluegill. In April of this year, 175 6.4-inch bluegill were stocked, and largemouth bass will be added in 2026 and 2027.
“The hope is the bluegill will begin to reproduce and the largemouth bass will have a smorgasbord of food to grow quickly when they are added,” Siddons said.
Siddons added sampling of the pond found bluegill from 2024 and they had grown.
Pasture Pond was enrolled as a Game and Fish walk-in fishing area in 2022 to allow public access for fishing. The department funded the entire Pasture Pond project.
Bill Zink, LCCC plant operations director, said the pond is open to fishing, but school officials are waiting to advertise the pond until the fish become better acclimated and are a little bigger.
“Working with Game and Fish has been a great partnership,” Zink said. “They’ve completed a tremendous amount of work, both on-site and behind the scenes. We have all learned a considerable amount from the highly knowledgeable team at Game and Fish about what it takes to sustain a healthy fishery in Wyoming.”
The pond will not only add another public fishing spot in Cheyenne, but will add to the student experience on the LCCC campus.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve our campus and to bait future students to our campus to see everything we have to offer,” Zink added.
DRY CREEK POND
In 2004, LCCD put in a wetland area between the Eagle Claw manufacturing plant and the LCCD building in southeast Cheyenne. A pond was part of that wetland area, and Game and Fish eventually approached Geyer about planting fish. Geyer asked for two years to improve the pond, and now it is 2.5 surface acres and just under 20 acre feet in capacity.
“We did some major excavating,” Geyer said with a laugh.
Funding from Game and Fish and LCCD prompted the first stocking of fish in 2024 with fathead minnows and bluegill. More bluegill and largemouth bass were stocked this year.
The pond isn’t open for fishing yet, but it’s anticipated to open in spring 2026.
Geyer worked with three different biologists from Game and Fish in the development of Dry Creek Pond — Siddons, Kirkeeng and Steve Gale. “All of them have been great to work with,” he said. “They had a recipe for success with the fish stocking, and they’ve been nothing but helpful. They counted on me, and vice versa. We all want more fisheries in Cheyenne, and there really isn’t anything in the southeast part of the city.”
SUCCESS STORY
“All of us in the department, as well as our partners on all of these projects, are very proud of where we are at,” Siddons said. “It is a special opportunity to establish new community fisheries, especially in high-use areas like Cheyenne.”
Kirkeeng was in on the early stages of these Cheyenne projects, and said he is “way happier now” than he was in 2017 when the initial work began. He also said this might be Game and Fish’s greatest success story for developing community fishing ponds.
“Everyone involved in these projects was wonderful,” Kirkeeng said. “There’s something about a community fishing pond that is stocked at a high rate where catch rates are really high that gives kids a positive experience.”
— Robert Gagliardi is the associate editor of Wyoming Wildlife.