From Wyoming Game & Fish
The main sport fish in Ocean Lake are walleye, yellow perch, and crappie.
Walleye in Ocean Lake have little or no success in reproducing naturally due to substrates dominated by fine silt. Therefore, the walleye fishery has been maintained by annual stocking. On July 2, 2003, a total of 159,960 walleye fingerling (1553/lb.) were stocked into the lake from Garrison National Fish Hatchery. Requests were increased from 160,000 to 320,000 fingerling/ year beginning in 2004.
To better evaluate this stocking program a walleye specific sampling scheme was initiated in 2001. Over the next several years we will be gill netting each fall to evaluate the change in stocking and the status of the walleye population in the lake.
Six overnight sets were made from September 16-19, 2003. The number of walleye caught increased somewhat compared to 2002 and the average length increased from 14.7 to 16.9 inches. Relative weight, which is a measure of condition or plumpness of the fish, also increased significantly. Interviews with anglers during the year have also indicated that walleye fishing is gradually improving.
If the increased requests for walleye fingerlings can be met by Garrison National Fish Hatchery, we will hopefully continue to see improved walleye fishing in the future.
Since 1990, a group of sportsmen from Riverton has placed approximately 500 discarded Christmas trees on the ice at Ocean Lake each year. The trees are placed in groups on the ice and wired to 6-inch diameter by 12-inch long concrete cylinders provide by Inberg-Miller Engineering. At ice-off, the trees sink to the bottom where they will hopefully enhance fish habitat and encourage stabilization of lake sediments.
During 2003, the trees were placed near the west shoreline (Zone 12T, 692802 easting, 4784515 northing) in 12 feet of water. In late January 2004, the trees were again put along the eastern portion of the lake at Z12T, 693448E, 4784374N.
In addition to the Christmas trees, the Wyoming Department of Transportation provided trees removed from highway right-of-ways in the Ocean Lake area. Several hundred trees, mostly Russian olives, were placed in the same location as the Christmas trees.
We hope to be see continued upward trends in walleye fishing in Ocean Lake with increased stocking. Christmas trees and Russian olives at Ocean Lake.