Shoshone River Fishing Guides and Conditions, Wyoming

About the Shoshone River

The Shoshone forms where the North Fork and South Fork meet above Buffalo Bill Reservoir and runs east past Cody, through the Shoshone Canyon and out across the Bighorn Basin to Lovell and the Bighorn River. Anglers use it in three different ways. The North Fork above the reservoir, along the highway to Yellowstone’s east entrance, is a freestone cutthroat and rainbow stream. The reach below Buffalo Bill Dam through Cody is a tailwater with browns and rainbows that fishes all winter. The lower river through the basin is warmer, bigger, and holds a mix of trout, whitefish and walleye.

The tailwater below the dam is the reason Cody has fishing guides. Cold releases keep the river open in January, the browns run large, and the DeMaris Springs area adds mineral-rich inflow that keeps the water temperature stable. Below town the river drops through a series of diversions and irrigation returns that make the middle reaches unpredictable in summer, then settles into the long, slower water above Lovell where this gauge sits.

Read the Lovell number as a basin-scale reading rather than a tailwater one; it includes irrigation return flows and tributary input from below Cody. Generally, moderate flows in the several-hundred to low-thousand cfs range fish well, spring runoff and irrigation releases can push it far higher and off-color, and the clearest, most consistent water in any month is up in the tailwater.

Cody has everything: lodging, shops, an airport and a genuine tourist economy built on Yellowstone traffic. That makes it the easiest Wyoming trout town to get to and the easiest to book late.

Access

North Fork Highway (US 14/16/20): pullouts and Shoshone National Forest access above Buffalo Bill Reservoir.
Buffalo Bill State Park: reservoir access and the top of the tailwater.
Shoshone Canyon and DeMaris Springs: walk-in tailwater access just west of Cody.
Cody river accesses along the highway east of town: wade and small-boat access to the tailwater.
Willwood and Byron area accesses: lower basin reaches with irrigation influence.
Lovell area: access near the gauge above the Bighorn confluence and Bighorn Canyon.

Seasons

Year-round on the tailwater below Buffalo Bill Dam; winter is a genuine season here.
March through May: strong pre-runoff fishing, then high, dirty water on the forks.
June and July: runoff and irrigation swings; the tailwater stays the reliable option.
August through November: clearing water basin-wide, hoppers late summer, brown trout in October.