Moose Lake in Fremont County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Out in Fremont County, Wyoming, sits Moose Lake. The water sits 9,948 feet up. At roughly 13 acres, the whole thing is within casting reach of a single walk. Start from Pinedale, 30 miles down the road. For a city, Billings is 184 miles off. Others close at hand: Native Lake at 1.3 miles, Cub Lake within 1.4 miles, Grassy Lake at 1.5 miles, Phillips Lake within 1.7 miles and Don Lake at 1.9 miles. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Moose Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. County-wide records name brown trout, rainbow trout, white sucker and brook trout. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Moose Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 47°F on average, February about 15°F. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from mid June. Break-up sits around mid June on average, with the water closing again about late October. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. The season on Moose Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. Nothing is listed nearby for parking or launching a boat. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. For a change of water, Native Lake is 1.3 miles distant. What applies at Moose Lake may have changed since it was mapped.