Upper Frozen Lake near Buffalo: Fishing Spots, Seasons and Access

• Overview

  Upper Frozen Lake is set in Big Horn County, Wyoming. The surface lies 10,325 feet up. It measures about 29 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. Buffalo at 20 miles is the nearest place to stop. The big place round here is Billings, 123 miles distant. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple. A short walk from the parking spot changes the water completely.

• Where to Fish on Upper Frozen Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Fish documented in Big Horn County include brook trout, rainbow trout and brown trout. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. Fish Upper Frozen Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 48°F and January reads 13°F. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. The lid usually goes in mid June, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The open-water window runs from around mid June to about late October in an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Upper Frozen Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Lower Frozen Lake, 0.4 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Signs at Upper Frozen Lake carry more weight than any list.