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Pathfinder Reservoir Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

One of Reclamation's first dams, in a granite canyon of the North Platte southwest of Casper, holding a reservoir where Wyoming Game and Fish stocks rainbow and cutthroat trout and kokanee.

1/5
Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Water temp
~62 F est.
Air / High
61 / 62 F
Wind
SW 33 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

1/5Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Pathfinder Reservoir is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings clear skies, wind SW around 33 mph, rising pressure near 1008 hPa and a high of 62. Water sits around 62 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:45 AM-11:45 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutGood

This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66Β°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

WalleyeFair

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 46 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Wyoming requires a fishing licence from age 14, from $48.50 for residents. What a Wyoming licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with WGFD before you keep anything. The season dates for Wyoming, read off the agency, are on the Wyoming seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp61 F
High / Low62 / 42 F
WindSW 33-45 mph
Pressure1008.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset07:30 / 18:12
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~62 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Pathfinder Reservoir this week

The best day on Pathfinder Reservoir this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 1 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Slow

Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Solunar majors
9:45 AM-11:45 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM
Minor period
4:09 AM-5:09 AM
Sun
07:30 to 18:12
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 36 mph
Rain chance
1%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Pathfinder Reservoir: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. This band overlaps Vermont's 54-66Β°F stream preference: fish feed across riffles, runs and pocket water, and in lakes WDFW says spring and fall bring them near the surface.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

When to come: the Pathfinder Reservoir calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Walleye
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 62 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Pathfinder Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 18 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 18 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 68 F, wind to 14 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Wyoming requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Wyoming fishing license. See the current Wyoming Game and Fish fishing regulations for Pathfinder Reservoir; the department noted in 2026 that walleye limits were raised in the North Platte drainage upstream of the Dave Johnston Power Plant, and that the North Platte tailwaters between Kortes Dam and the Highway 220 bridge now require single-point barbless hooks.

Access

Recreation is managed for Reclamation by the Bureau of Land Management and Natrona County Roads, Bridges and Parks (307-235-9325): 3 campgrounds and 3 boat ramps, reached from US 220 by County Roads 408 or 410. The Pathfinder Interpretive Center and a 1.7-mile trail are near the dam; Reclamation's Fremont Canyon Recreation Area is 4 miles downriver.

About this water

A Bureau of Reclamation reservoir of about 1,016,000 acre-feet behind Pathfinder Dam (1905-1909) on the North Platte River, Carbon and Natrona counties, Wyoming.

Fishing Pathfinder Reservoir: the full guide

A 1909 granite dam

Pathfinder Dam stands in a granite canyon on the North Platte River, about 3 miles below the Sweetwater River confluence and 47 miles southwest of Casper. Reclamation calls it one of the first dams built by the Reclamation Service: it was constructed from 1905 to 1909 of granite quarried nearby, is 214 feet high, and backs up a reservoir of about 1,016,000 acre-feet that holds much of the North Platte Project's water. River water reaches Pathfinder only after passing Seminoe and Kortes dams upstream, and part of the reservoir lies inside the Pathfinder National Wildlife Refuge.

What lives here and what is stocked

Reclamation lists brown, cutthroat, rainbow and Ohrid trout and walleye. Wyoming Game and Fish's stocking report shows kokanee planted every May (about 100,000 to 106,000 small fish a year from 2024 to 2026), Bear River cutthroat in the spring and fall, and Eagle Lake, fall and standard rainbow trout, including 115,551 rainbows in November 2025. In its May 2026 Casper Region forecast, the department said Pathfinder was providing excellent walleye fishing and strong trout populations, that kokanee remained popular, and that low storage would affect boating access.

Gauge and water levels

This page has no live gauge. The nearest USGS station, 06642000 North Platte River at Alcova, sits below Alcova Dam, the next dam downstream, and has reported no discharge since 1998. Check Reclamation's North Platte reservoir reports for Pathfinder's storage instead.

Common questions

What fish are stocked in Pathfinder Reservoir?

Wyoming Game and Fish stocks kokanee each May, Bear River cutthroat trout and several strains of rainbow trout. Its 2024-2026 report lists more than 100,000 kokanee a year.

Is there walleye in Pathfinder?

Yes. Reclamation lists walleye, and Wyoming Game and Fish said in May 2026 that Pathfinder was providing excellent walleye fishing.

Who runs the ramps and campgrounds?

The Bureau of Land Management and Natrona County Roads, Bridges and Parks manage recreation for Reclamation: 3 campgrounds and 3 boat ramps.

Is fishing good at Pathfinder Reservoir right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Tough. Pick your battles. Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Nearby waters

North Platte River (Grey Reef)12 miSeminoe Reservoir23 miBoysen Reservoir89 miGlendo Reservoir98 miOcean Lake101 miSteamboat Lake115 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 42.4600, -106.8700 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 6, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 6, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.