Wyoming answers the season question in one sentence and then hands you a book of exceptions. The sentence is the most permissive in the country.
Every season we have verified in Wyoming
One block per rule, because a single species can be on two calendars in the same state depending on the water. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is what our own data says the fish are doing.
Trout — Statewide default
The regulation reads: "Fishing is permitted year-round twenty-four (24) hours a day in any waters of this state except as otherwise provided by Commission regulation for specific areas, streams, lakes, or portions thereof." Twenty-four hours a day is unusual and it is explicit. The catch is in the second half of the sentence: Wyoming divides itself into fishing areas, each with its own creel limit, and individual waters carry their own closures — Burnt Lake in Sublette County is shut from December 1 to April 30, Currant Creek in Sweetwater County from April 1 to June 30.
- Limit
- 6 trout a day statewide, though many areas reduce that to 3.
Bass — Statewide default
The same year-round default applies. Nongame fish have no creel or possession limit at all. Before fishing, the thing to look up is not the season but the area: the statewide rule is a starting point that the area regulations routinely override.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Read in the eRegulations edition of the official Wyoming fishing regulations, the designated publisher for WGFD. Legal dates were read on the agency’s own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
What the water is doing while the season is open
This is the part an agency page will not tell you. The temperature row above is the seasonal curve we use for the 4 of 13 Wyoming waters we track on a trout river profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. A season that opens while the water is still in the forties is a legal invitation, not a biological one: the fish are there, they are just not eating on your schedule yet. Cross the legal band against the activity row before you book the day off.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 13 Wyoming waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- North Platte River (Grey Reef) — Natrona County
- Flaming Gorge Reservoir — Sweetwater County
- Jackson Lake — Teton County
- Boysen Reservoir — Fremont County
- Seminoe Reservoir — Carbon County
- Pathfinder Reservoir — Natrona County
- Glendo Reservoir — Platte County
- Fremont Lake — Sublette County
- Snake River — Teton County
- Green River — Lincoln County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Wyoming requires a licence from age 14, and residents pay from $48.50 against $123.50 for visitors. What a Wyoming licence costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does fishing season open in Wyoming?
It depends on the species: trout open all year; bass open all year. Every date on this page was read off WGFD on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Wyoming?
Yes. Wyoming requires a fishing licence from age 14, from $48.50 for residents. A season being open is not permission to fish: the licence is separate and so are the size and bag limits.
Are these Wyoming dates going to change?
Some of them, and the page says which. Dates written as a rule in the regulations are calculated here for 2026, so they follow the rule rather than going stale. Dates the agency sets each year are shown as exactly that, with no calendar band, because inventing one would be worse than leaving it empty.