Fishing at Shell Reservoir, Big Horn County, Wyoming

• Overview

  This water sits in Big Horn County, Wyoming. Land around it is lake country bush. With some 94 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The edge runs 1.7 miles or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Few waters listed in Big Horn County are bigger. Sheridan sits 30 miles from here and is the nearest stop. Greybull is 32 miles and Basin 32 miles. No boundary runs near, so the county rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Shell Reservoir

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Rip-rap along the wall holds fish that the open bank never does. Points where the flooded channel swings in are the reliable ones. Public occurrence data for Big Horn County names brook trout, rainbow trout and brown trout. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Treat Shell Reservoir as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put August near 51°F and January near 13°F. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. After early June the shallows warm and the fish move up. In an average year the thaw lands around early June and the freeze near early November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. Shell Reservoir runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. For a change of water, Adelaide Lake is 0.8 miles distant. Treat access at Shell Reservoir as something to verify.