It may be cold outside, but that doesn’t mean you have to put the rods away for the season. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is inviting anglers to come out and participate in two fishing derbies this winter to help combat invasive burbot. The first burbot derby is the 2026 Burbot Bash, which is set to happen on January 23 to 25th at the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and is to be hosted by Dagget County. Registration for this ice fishing derby is open now till January 18th. The second burbot fishing derby is the 10th Annual La Barge Ding-The-Ling Ice Fishing Derby. This is going to happen at the Fontenelle Reservoir from February 6th to 8th. This derby is being hosted by the LaBarge Events Committee, and information on how to register and get involved will be available on their Facebook page in the next few weeks. Combined, these invasive burbot derbies have managed to remove tens of thousands of burbot over the years.
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The burbot (Lota lota) is the only true freshwater species of the cod family and is actually native to certain drainages in Wyoming, the Bighorn River, Tongue and Powder River. Unfortunatly the burbot was illegally introduced into the Green River drainage over 20 years ago. An aggressive predator like most cod species, the burbot will eat just about any other creature it can get into its large mouth. This fact caused the downfall of the smallmouth bass fishery at Flaming Gorge, which had produced the state record bass of 5.94 pounds in April of 2003 before the introduction of burbot. With no natural predators in the reservoir, the population has exploded there, and it is now up to anglers to help manage their numbers. Since 2014, any burbot caught at Flaming Gorge must be killed immedietly, rule applies to all waters in Area 4 of Wyoming Game and Fish’s fishing regulations in Carbon, Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater, and Uinta counties. Anglers should also be aware that there are reservoirs in Wyoming that burbot are native to, and that have a daily creel limit. So please check the regulations before heading out on the water.
Writer for AllOutdoor.com and OutdoorHub.com Lifelong angler that will fish for anything that swim, firearms enthusiast, and hunter. Instagram – mrfish49
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