Statewide Creel Limits
New or revised regulations for 2025 are highlighted in blue.
See Statewide Regulations for complete statewide regulations. There are many exceptions to statewide regulations on the Areas pages. Refer to How to Find Regulations for Specific Waters to learn to find regulations for specific waters.
Category |
Creel and Possession Limits |
Trout in combination (includes brown, cutthroat, grayling, golden, rainbow, salmon, tiger trout, and other trout hybrids). Excludes brook trout, lake trout and splake. |
All lakes, unless indicated otherwise: six (6) All streams, unless indicated otherwise: Three (3) No more than one (1) trout shall exceed sixteen (16) inches. TOTAL STREAMS AND LAKES COMBINED: six (6) |
Brook trout |
Sixteen (16) |
Lake trout and splake in combination |
Six (6) No more than one (1) lake trout or splake shall exceed twenty-four (24) inches. |
Burbot (ling) |
Three (3). See drainage area exceptions on pages 8, 13 and 16. |
Channel catfish |
Six (6) |
Largemouth and smallmouth bass in combination |
Six (6) |
Northern pike |
See drainage area exceptions. |
Sauger |
Two (2) |
Shovelnose sturgeon |
Two (2) |
Tiger muskie (sterile northern pike muskellunge hybrid) |
One (1), all tiger muskie less than thirty-six (36) inches in length shall be released to the water immediately. |
Walleye |
Six (6) |
Whitefish |
Six (6) |
Yellow perch, black bullhead, stonecat, crappie, rock bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish, green sunfish-bluegill hybrid, freshwater drum in combination |
Fifty (50) |
Except as otherwise provided, no person shall harvest and keep during any one (1) day, or have in possession, more than the number and length of game fish specified as the creel limits listed above. Exceptions are listed with the regulations for each drainage area on pages 8-18.
Except as otherwise provided in the exception for an individual water, the total combined creel and possession limit for the trout category, regardless of the waters (streams, lakes, or a combination of both) a person is fishing, shall not exceed six (6) trout per day or in possession.
Any fish caught that is not to be counted in the creel limit shall be immediately released to the water with as little injury to the fish as possible. Any fish placed on a stringer, in a container, in a live well, or not released immediately to the water, shall be considered to be reduced to possession of the angler and shall be killed prior to being transported from the water of origin. No fish that has been reduced to possession of the angler shall be released alive without prior written approval from the Department.
All fish possessed or transported shall be kept in a manner that species and numbers can be determined. When length limits apply, the whole body shall remain intact (gills and entrails can be removed) while in transit or in the field. Where length limits do not apply, a piece of skin large enough to allow species identification (at least one (1) inch square) shall remain on all fish fillets while in transit or in the field, except as otherwise provided in Areas 2, 3 and 5 for walleye and sauger harvested in the Wind River, Bighorn River and Tongue River drainages and Glendo Reservoir.
There are no creel or possession limits for nongame fish. Except as otherwise provided in Area 4 for Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Nongame fish may be taken by the use of legal fishing methods during any season open for the taking of game fish.
Fish Hatchery Information
Game and Fish biologists conduct about 600 surveys each year to monitor populations of wild and stocked fish in Wyoming lakes and rivers. They improve habitat, adjust fishing regulations, attempt to control problem species, and request approximately 7 million fish for stocking throughout the state to provide high quality fishing opportunities. These stocking requests are sent to the Department’s ten hatcheries and rearing stations more than two years before the fish are stocked. The requests are tailored to specific waters by specifying the species, number, size, and stocking date. Hatchery employees produce detailed production plans to meet all of these requests for trout, salmon, grayling and tiger muskie. They take eggs and manage complex operations involving water quality, fish densities, temperatures and feed to ensure that healthy fish are ready for stocking on schedule. Each year they transport fish to about 375 different waters for stocking. To learn more about hatchery efforts to provide quality fishing and conserve native species visit wgfd.wyo.gov/fishing-boating/fish-hatcheries.