Over the past few years, research by biologists from the Wyoming Game & Fish Department (WGFD) has shown significant hooking injuries to fish in the North Platte River, particularly on the Miracle Mile and Gray Reef sections near Casper.
According to reporter Christine Peterson, with Wyofile, nearly one-fourth of all trout in the North Platte River show some signs of a “hooking injury.”
You’ve probably seen this on fish yourself. Trout with deformed jaws, missing mandibles, or even lost eyes are just a few examples of the types of hooking injuries caused by catch-and-release with barbed hooks.
This regulation isn’t new to the Cowboy State. Barbless hooks have been the norm in Yellowstone National Park for years now, but that’s under the jurisdiction of the Park Service, and not the WGFD.
Why Now?
The surge in popularity of the North Platte has only made these issues worse in recent years. So, the WGFD proposed a barbless-only rule on all sections of the North Platte downstream from Seminoe Reservoir (where the Miracle Mile starts). That rule was adopted by the Wyoming Game & Fish Commission last week and will go into effect January 1, 2026.
In reporting at both Wyofile and Cowboy State Daily, guides seem to largely be in support of this ban. Guide and co-owner of North Platte Lodge Tent Tatum told Cowboy State Daily he’s seen some fish with jaws so mangled, “you really have to wonder how they were even able to feed?”
Additional Regulations
Also included in the new regulations is a complete ban on pegged attractor rigs. Pegging beads for salmon, dolly varden, Arctic char, and rainbow trout is a popular, effective method in Alaska that’s made its way to some trout fisheries in the Lower 48. This involves pegging a plastic bead a few inches above a bare hook. The fish thinks the bead is an egg, eats it, and the angler sets the hook, driving the hook point home.
With all that distance between the egg and the hook, though, it’s easy to snag fish in the head, side, stomach, or elsewhere. This rig was apparently enough of a problem on the North Platte that it’ll be illegal as well starting in 2026.