Some Wyoming folks might have fond childhood memories of hopping on their bicycles and riding down to the local fishing hole.
A new 2-acre pond project in the Cheyenne Business Parkway Natural Area will make that a possibility for today’s kids.
And yes, adults also will be welcome to come try their hand at reeling in a fat, tasty bass or bluegill, Laramie Conservation District water specialist Jeff Geyer told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
“That’s what the intent of this project was, to give families the opportunity to spend time together outside,” he said.
Ideal Spot
Cheyenne already has some local fishing, such as Sloan’s Lake in Lion’s Park, Geyer said. The new project will fill another niche.
“Most of our urban fishing opportunity is on the west side of Cheyenne,” he said. “For the most part, the southeast side – where this pond will be – is high and dry.”
The Cheyenne LEADS economic development organization got the new pond project off the ground, Geyer said. LEADS provided the land, which the conservation district is charged with managing.
“We built an office building, and now it (the land parcel) is in our backyard, so we can keep an eye on it,” Geyer said.
The pond also will have a practical purpose, as it will retain the robust storm runoff that comes through that section of Dry Creek.
And it will fit into a larger wetlands habitat there that should attract more wildlife, he added. For now, there’s only a small amount of standing water, just enough for waterfowl to make occasional pit stops.
The location is great, Geyer said. Fittingly, it’s adjacent to the recently completed Eagle Claw fishing gear factory.
And it’s also near growing residential areas.
“We have a number of subdivisions going up in Cheyenne,” he said. “And this pond happens to be downstream of a decent-sized subdivision.”
It might also tie in with expansion of the city’s greenway, giving people a convenient route to walk or bike from their houses down to the fishing hole, Geyer said.
Digging It Out
A 1-acre shallow wetland was built on the pond site in the early 2000s, Geyer said. That involved a “sheet pile” metal dam, creating a small pond, just a couple of feet deep.
Since federal regulations prohibit fully damming up a floodway, designers opted to create the new pond through excavation. The involved digging out roughly 42,000 cubic yards of dirt.
Each cubic yard “is about enough to fill a pickup truck bed with dirt,” Geyer said.
At its deepest point, the pond will be about 16 feet deep. Huge sections of cottonwood tree trunks were also placed along the edges in some spots. Once they’re submerged, they’ll provide “hidey holes” for fish, he said.
The depth of the pond is important for fish survival during the winter, he said.
When water freezes over and becomes stagnant, it starts losing its oxygen content. Deeper water will retain enough oxygen to get fish through the winter.
“You really want to have it below 10-foot depths. That’s about them minimum you need,” Geyer said.
Warm Water Fish
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will stock the pond with bluegills this fall, and with largemouth bass in spring 2025, he said.
Those species were chosen because they’re easy to manage and well suited to warm water.
“Cheyenne’s summers get pretty toasty. We can frequently get up into the 90s, so we knew we had to go with warm water fish species,” Geyer said.
There’s already an existing population of small “forage fish” at the site, which should supply the bluegill and bass with ample food, Geyer said.
The bluegill should be plentiful and make for tasty table fare, he said. But the bass could end up being the premier attraction.
“We had the option with Game and Fish of having more sizable bluegill, or more sizable bass. And we thought, ‘Let’s go with the bigger bass,’” Geyer said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
