Over the past couple of years, we have been taking backpacking trips to the Wind Rivers in search of golden trout. Finding lakes with golden trout has been a bit challenging. When it comes to fishing, people just don't want to give away their secret sacred fishing locations. I'm right there with them, I don't either. If you read through our articles on golden trout fishing in the Wind Rivers (see articles at the bottom of the page), you will see that we don't share what exact lakes we are fishing at. But, I hope that the list of resources we were able to find and use for our trips can help you plan out your next adventure to catch golden trout.
Here are the best resources we found for locating lakes with golden trout and planning our routes on backpacking trips. Finding where they are at is the first challenge, the biggest challenge is catching the darn fish. In my opinion, they are hands down the hardest trout to catch by far.
What lakes have golden trout in the Wind Rivers?
- Interactive Wyoming Fishing Guide • As titled, you can use an interactive map and click on lakes to see what fish are found in them.
- Bridger Fishing Guide • This is the current location of an elusive PDF file that provides a detailed map and list of all the lakes in the Bridger Wilderness, along with the fish species found in each one. This covers a significant portion of the Wind Rivers but not all of it.
- Wyoming Fishing Guide • This is a PDF that covers the state but not in as much detail as the Bridger Fishing Guide.
Other helpful resources to learn more about their behavior and how to catch goldens
- Trout Howler on YouTube • Kendel is a backcountry trout-catching fool. You can glean a lot about how to catch golden trout and get an idea of the beautiful country they live in from his YouTube videos
- Fly-Fishing the Rocky Mountain Backcountry • This is a great book I would recommend on backcountry fishing.
Here is a great video from Dyson Morgan where he discusses the challenges in finding goldens and how he catches them.
Best of luck out there in your golden trout backpacking adventures!