Fishing At East Allen Lake Has Improved

There is finally some good news about fishing at East Allen Lake.

The Laramie Fish Management Crew completed its annual sampling of the lake in late April and they say fish numbers are improving. Sampling gear yielded more than 30 game fish (rainbow and Bear River cutthroat), with nearly half the fish weighing over two pounds.

Survival of stocked trout was poor from about 2006 through 2010, due to low water levels and poor water quality. Fish biologists reduced the number of trout stocked annually during this time. However, with improved water conditions over the last few years, fish biologists have been working to reestablish this fishery.

As water conditions improved in 2011, biologists resumed annual stocking of rainbow trout and Bear River cutthroat trout. In addition, 7,000 tiger trout were stocked in 2013 to utilize the large forage base of stickleback and fathead minnows found in the lake. Because of the small number of tiger trout stocked, none have shown up in sampling gear yet. But fish biologists are confident anglers will begin catching these fish as the summer fishing season gets underway.

Efforts will continue to improve the fishery at East Allen Lake. Earlier this spring the lake was stocked with 20,000 four-inch rainbow trout, 20,000 four-inch Bear River cutthroat and 7,000 three-inch tiger trout. Tiger trout will continue to be stocked annually through 2017. In future years there will be fewer rainbow and Bear River cutthroat trout stocked annually, but they will be larger at the time of stocking.

“It has been a long road to rebuild this fishery after the long drought. It will be nice to finally be able to give anglers a positive response to their questions about East Allen Lake,” said Laramie Fish Biologist Lee McDonald.