Wyoming Bans Barbed Hooks on North Platte River

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has enacted a complete barbless hook requirement for the North Platte River’s most prized trout waters. The transfer is available in response to alarming analysis exhibiting widespread hooking accidents among the many fishery’s rainbow and brown trout populations.

Starting January 1, 2026, solely barbless hooks might be permitted on the North Platte River from Grey Reef downstream to Miles Touchdown/Authorities Bridge, encompassing the legendary Miracle Mile part that attracts anglers from throughout the nation searching for trophy trout.

A 2023 Wyoming Sport and Fish Division examine revealed the severity of hook-related accidents plaguing North Platte trout. The findings had been stark: 21.4% of trout within the Miracle Mile confirmed seen hooking accidents, whereas 12.2% at Grey Reef bore comparable scars. When contemplating all fish exhibiting any indicators of earlier seize, the numbers jumped dramatically to 72.6% at Miracle Mile and 64.6% at Grey Reef.

These accidents vary from deformed jaws and lacking mandibles to destroyed eyes, with many fish struggling wounds that compromise their potential to feed and spawn successfully. The injury stems from barbed hooks that should be ripped from fish mouths throughout catch-and-release fishing, in contrast to barbless hooks that slide out cleanly.

“A few of them had been so mangled, you actually need to surprise how had been they even in a position to feed?” stated Tent Tatum, co-owner of North Platte Lodge and The Reef Fly Store Cottages, talking to Cowboy State Daily. Tatum, whose operation has all the time used barbless hooks, warns that severely injured fish “simply wither away.”

The proliferation of hooking accidents has raised issues about population-level impacts on Wyoming’s premier trout fishery. Lots of the most severely broken fish noticed had been spawning-class adults, doubtlessly affecting the fishery’s reproductive success and long-term sustainability.

The North Platte’s surge in reputation has solely exacerbated these points in recent times, placing further strain on trout populations already combating hook-related accidents.