Fishing at Steamboat Lake, Fremont County, Wyoming

• Overview

  In Wyoming, Steamboat Lake belongs to Fremont County. What surrounds it is pine and birch. It measures about 46 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. About 1.1 miles of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. The closest town, Fort Washakie, is 24 miles distant. Further out sit Pinedale (29 miles) and Ethete (30 miles). It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Steamboat Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Survey and observation records for Fremont County include brown trout, rainbow trout, white sucker and brook trout. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. At Steamboat Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 50°F and February at 17°F. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near early June. The season between ice runs from about early June to early November. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. Steamboat Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Hidden Lake at 1.4 miles is the sensible second choice. Where Steamboat Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.