Upper Sunshine Reservoir near Meeteetse is popular with local anglers, particularly for ice fishing, but the reservoir is being drained so fishing there won't be an option for two years.
The Greybull Valley Irrigation District is draining the reservoir “to perform critical irrigation infrastructure repairs,” according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Upper Sunshine is expected to be completely drained by Sept. 1, so engineers can inspect infrastructure and determine what repairs are needed.
It will start refilling Oct. 1 but will be drained again in 2027 for the repair work. Repairs are scheduled for completion by April 2028.
“Game and Fish will not stock the small pool that will form during the 2026-2027 period, as it will be drained again in the fall of 2027. Stocking to rebuild the fishery will resume in the fall of 2028, once repairs are completed and water levels stabilize,” according to the agency.
‘Suckers And Cutthroats’
Dalton Epperson of Cody and his friend Tyler Geving of Meeteetse have fished at Upper and Lower Sunshine reservoirs for years.
Upper Sunshine is primarily for ice fishing, they said.
“It’s usually the first thing that’s frozen” in the area, Epperson said.
Upper Sunshine doesn’t have much fish variety, he added.
“It’s all suckers and cutthroats,” he said.
Meat from the suckers makes good lake trout bait, he said.
Because this past winter was so dry, Upper Sunshine Reservoir wasn’t in the best shape anyway, Geving said.
“It was pretty low during ice fishing season,” he said.
Even so, with plentiful fish and easy access, it’s remained popular, Geving said.
“Upper Sunshine is a good starter lake. It’s a good place to take somebody and teach them ice fishing because you can catch 14- and 15-inch cutthroat all day long,” he said.
The reservoirs are the site of an ice fishing derby during the first week of February.
Epperson said Upper and Lower Sunshine are go-too fishing spots for Park County locals because they're about 40 minutes from Cody.
And from Meeteetse, “locals can be there in about 10 minutes and have their boats on the water,” he added.
Long-Term Goals
While the drainages and construction will tank fishing at Upper Sunshine Reservoir in the short term, the repair work should have lasting benefits for the fishery, according to Game and Fish.
“Recent sampling has indicated reduced growth rates in stocked Yellowstone cutthroat trout, likely due to an overabundance of longnose suckers competing for resources, and the drawdown will significantly reduce the sucker population,” Cody regional fisheries biologist Jason Burckhardt said in a statement from the agency.
Refilling the reservoir will release “a surplus of nutrients” from plants and soil, he added.
That will boost plankton production, so trout should grow faster and bigger, Burkhardt said.
While Upper Sunshine Reservoir is down, anglers can turn their attention to Lower Sunshine Reservoir and other waters in the region.
Some of those include Boysen Reservoir south of Thermopolis, Buffalo Bill Reservoir west of Cody, and Meadowlark Lake in the Bighorn Mountains.
Let’s Go Splake Fishing
Epperson and Geving said draining Upper Sunshine Reservoir will put a pinch on their local angling opportunities. But they understand the work has to be done, and there’s no shortage of other places to fish.
“I know they’ve got to upgrade stuff and keep things fixed, to keep the reservoirs running right,” Geving said. “And Lower Sunshine is more fun to fish because it’s got lake trout and splake, and bigger fish.”
Splake are a sterile hybrid species popular among Wyoming anglers. They’re produced in Game and Fish hatcheries by crossing male brook trout with female lake trout.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
