Unless something is done, Wyoming risks its prized trout fishing rivers turning into aquatic mosh pits, like those in Colorado and Montana, some anglers told lawmakers.
“In the last four years, there have been an unbelievable amount of people on our rivers in Sublette County and around the state,” fly fishing guide Colby Spencer of Pinedale told the Wyoming House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.
More people are coming to Wyoming to escape “elbow-to-elbow” crowds on rivers in neighboring states, noted Wyoming outdoorsman and fly fishing guide Paul Ulrich said.
Ulrich, Spencer and others testified before the committee Tuesday in favor of House Bill 5.
It would give the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission authority to regulate commercially guided fishing. That could include such measures as registering guides’ drift boats or restricting the number of boats allowed on a stretch of river at certain times.
The bill could be “the first step” toward saving Wyoming from getting overrun by not only anglers, but outdoor thrill-seekers in general, Wyoming Wildlife Federation Spokeswoman Jess Johnson told the committee.
That’s been happening in Montana and Colorado, she said.
“When we talk about what’s coming to Wyoming, we just have to look south and north. You look at the recreation that’s coming, whether it’s rock climbing, it’s wildlife photography tours,” she said. “It’s biking, hiking — outfitting is much larger than hunting and fishing.”
The committee used up its allotted time listening to testimony about HB 5 and so took no action on it Tuesday. The committee plans to take the bill up again Thursday.
‘Mutilated, Run-Of-The-Mill-Sized Fish’
As things stand now, fishing outfitters and guides are unregulated in Wyomng, Ulrich said.
“There’s no system in place to even cover the basics,” such as whether guides have first aid training or insurance on their vehicles, he said.
Ulrich previously told Cowboy State Daily that while the company he guides for requires such things, others do not.
Nonresident guides have taken advantage of the free-for-all in Wyoming, Ulrich told the committee. And they frequently bring clients here to fish, but go back across the state line into Colorado for services such as dining and lodging.
“We’re getting killed by out-of-state guides, bringing their clients up to fishing our rivers, our natural resources,” Ulrich said.
The word is getting out about some of Wyoming’s prime trout-fishing waters, said Chris Hayes, who guides fly fishing trips in the Upper Green River basin.
“Wyoming is the last best place in the continental United States for fly fishing, but that’s changing,” he said. “Make no mistake, we’re on the radar now.”
The experience of fishing Wyoming’s uncrowded waters is what draws anglers here, Hayes said, and that should be protected.
In crowded areas, trout get “mutilated” by being caught and released over and over again, he said.
And he doesn’t want his clients and local anglers left fighting crowds and “catching a handful of mutilated, run-of-the-mill-sized-fish,” Hayes said.
Don’t Pinch Out The Little Guys
Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, who isn’t a member of the committee, testified against the bill.
She said that at least in its present form, the bill could burden local fishing guideswhile favoring lager commercial operations that could afford to pay more fees.
She added that if there are limits placed on the number of boats allowed on popular stretches of river, locals should get access first.
“The people who live along the rivers should have the ability to use the rivers,” she said.
Game And Fish Getting Complaints
Boat traffic along popular stretches of the Platte, Bighorn and Green rivers has increased in the past few years, Wyoming Game and Fish Chief of Fisheries Alan Osterland told the committee.
“We’ve been getting complaints for a while, and I know it (river traffic) has been ticking up, especially since COVID,” he said. “People feel impacted when there’s a lot of people coming to their backyard.”
Wildlife agencies in other states have implemented restrictions on boat traffic on some stretches of river, he said.
Bill Novotny, a Johnson County commissioner and member of the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association, noted the nonresident anglers spend considerable amounts of money in Wyoming.
Annual fishing licenses cost $24 for residents and $107 for nonresidents, he said.
He said he’s spoken to several Wyoming fishing outfitters who favor more structure and regulation for the business.
“They want to be regulated,” he said. “They want something done with the state to get some kind of control over what’s going on out there on these streams.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
