There’s widespread consensus that the glory days of trout fishing at Soda Lake near Pinedale could be over, but there is disagreement over the way it happened.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department maintains that it’s primarily because of drought. Some Wyoming sportsmen think it was a wetlands enhancement project dating back to 1988 that triggered the lake’s demise.
Game and Fish recently stated that the lake is “still struggling” and that anglers shouldn’t expect great fishing there this summer.
Avid Angler Mike Haden told Cowboy State Daily that he and other Wyoming outdoorsmen have long suspected that sunlight hitting the shallow water in the wetlands has raised the lake’s temperature, making it less hospitable for prize species such as brook and brown trout.
Pete Cavalli, Game and Fish Pinedale fisheries biologist, said water inflow into the entire system has long been on the decline, so the size of the wetlands hasn’t been the deciding factor in the dwindling fishery.
‘Just Take The Wetlands Out’
Haden started fishing at Soda Lake in 1982, and said “it was probably one of the best lakes in the West” at the time.
There were 18-pound brown trout caught there, and there were rumors of lunkers topping 20 pounds.
However, that started to change with the expansion of the wetlands in 1988, he said, adding that the sentiment among anglers is that the wetlands have been robbing the main lake of water.
The wetlands have attracted ducks and geese, but that’s come at the expense of fish, Haden said.
He said he faithfully fished opening day at Soda Lake for years, but then finally gave up because he wasn’t catching anything.
“There’s been many people complaining to them (Game and Fish) for years,” he said.
Those voiced concerns have led to frustration, he said.
“One, they won’t take any blame for it. And two, they just need to take out the wetlands, period,” Haden said.
A well was drilled a few years ago to add water to the wetlands, according to Game and Fish.
Haden said that anglers would like to see a well drilled to add more fresh water to the lake.
Wetlands Were Always There
Cavalli said criticism of the wetlands is misplaced.
There have always been natural wetlands in the drainage that feeds the lake, he said. The 1988 enhancement was done to improve waterfowl habitat.
There was a “fish mortality event” in Soda Lake in 1991, he said, but there’s no reason to think that was connected to the wetlands project.
Cavalli noted that “similar events (fish die-offs) happened in the 1950s, 1960s, 1978, and 1983.”
“The highest number of trout ever documented in Soda Lake was recorded in 1997,” nine years after the wetland project, he added.
That was about 47,000 adult trout, according to Game and Fish.
Water quality research in the 1990s didn’t indicate that the wetlands have any significant effect on water quality in the lake, Cavalli said.
Water Levels Decline
One thing that is certain is that the water levels in Soda Lake have been dropping dramatically.
That’s because of drought, Cavalli said.
The main inlet flowing into the wetlands used to flow for months at a time, but now flows only briefly during the spring, he said.
Game and Fish and Ducks Unlimited modified the wetlands between 2021 and 2023.
“Part of that project included drilling a well to add additional water to the wetlands and Soda Lake,” Cavalli said.
But even with the additional water provided by the well, little water makes it to Soda Lake, he said.
“The water level in the lake has dropped by 7 feet since 2019, and is now approximately 12 feet lower than it was in 1996,” Cavalli added.
Haden argues that the water temperature is what has really hurt trout.
The wetlands have essentially been acting like a water heater in that regard, he said.
“The warmer water temperature entering the lake has caused the problem,” he said, adding that anglers are frustrated that Game and Fish has "been unwilling to tear out the wetlands of the inlet."
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
