Anglers haven’t been able to fish in Jackson Lake during October for more than 70 years. But the popular spot in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) will open to fishing enthusiasts next October, when a closure that’s kept the month off-limits in the past will lift.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department Fish Management Coordinator Mark Smith said the initial closure started when folks were stocking up the lake to build a lake trout population.
“ It was also a period of time when most anglers that went out harvested their catch,” he explained at a recent Game and Fish Commission meeting in Casper.
Now, “most” is more like half, according to Smith. He said the trout population in Jackson Lake is fully established.
“ We believe that keeping the lake open will provide some increased opportunity with really no substantive consequences to the lake trout population,” he told commissioners.
The fish management coordinator referenced a Game and Fish survey during his presentation, which found that 74% of anglers wanted the closure to change.
Smith acknowledged that some people have raised concerns about how the change would interact with aquatic invasive species boat inspections in the park, which typically goes through the end of September.
“We've worked with the [National] Park Service collaboratively to ensure that between our work and the [National] Park Service, we'll have aquatic invasive species boat inspections during the month of October on Jackson Lake,” he said.
Earlier this week, a technician at one of the check stations in GTNP discovered quagga mussels on a boat arriving from Utah, according to a press release from the GTNP Public Affairs Office.
Smith also acknowledged that some people expressed concerns that the harvesting would increase problematically, but did not go into further detail.
In the same meeting, the Game and Fish Commission also voted to only allow single barbless hooks on the Miracle Mile, Cardwell, Afterbay and Gray Reef sections of the North Platte River. That comes after a recent agency study found that upwards of 25% of the river’s trout are severely injured from fishing hooks.
The commission also voted to ban boats from the section of the North Platte from Kortes Dam to the Seminoe Road bridge. Those changes will go into effect next year.
