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Home › Waters › Nevada › Rye Patch Reservoir
Reservoir · Northwestern Nevada, Pershing County, the Humboldt River valley north of Lovelock along Interstate 80 · Nevada

Rye Patch Reservoir Fishing Guides

A long desert reservoir on the Humboldt River in northern Nevada, managed for walleye and wipers, where the storage reading tells you more about the fishing than any forecast will.

The Colorado River curving below sandstone walls at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Rye Patch Reservoir

Rye Patch Reservoir impounds the Humboldt River in Pershing County, a long narrow desert storage reservoir north of Lovelock that Interstate 80 runs alongside for much of its length. It exists to store irrigation water, and that purpose governs everything about it as a fishery. The gauge reads water surface elevation continuously, and no single number matters more to an angler planning a trip here. Rye Patch can be a broad and generous lake in a good water year and a fraction of itself after a run of dry ones, and the ramps, the shoreline and the location of fish all move with it.

The reservoir sits in classic Great Basin country: sagebrush, alkali flats and very little shade. The water is turbid much of the year, carrying the fine sediment the Humboldt brings down, and it is productive enough to grow fish quickly. Structure is scarce in the conventional sense, so the old river channel, the points, the inundated brush along the margins during high water and the rocky areas near the dam are what concentrate fish.

Walleye are the headline species and the reason most anglers make the drive, with Nevada managing the reservoir as one of the state’s premier walleye fisheries. Wipers, the hybrid striped bass cross, are the other draw and provide fast, hard fishing when they are working bait on the surface. Smallmouth and largemouth bass, channel catfish, black crappie and yellow perch all contribute, and brown and rainbow trout appear particularly in the river above and below the reservoir. Common carp and tui chub make up much of the forage base.

Rye Patch State Recreation Area provides ramps, camping and shoreline access, and the interstate makes this one of the more accessible remote waters in Nevada. Wind is the principal hazard, as it is on any open desert reservoir, and it can build fast.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

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We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

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5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Pool right now

4,095.54ft
  • 24 hours+0.01 ft → steady

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 10334500, RYE PATCH RES NR RYE PATCH, NV. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Posting to Rye Patch Reservoir.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Rye Patch Reservoir ft

Now: 4,095.54 ft pool elevation, read 5:00 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 10334500, RYE PATCH RES NR RYE PATCH, NV).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Rye Patch State Recreation Area - the main access, with boat ramps, camping and shoreline parking.
Lovelock - the Pershing County seat roughly twenty minutes south, with fuel, food, lodging and supplies.
Interstate 80 - runs the length of the valley and makes access unusually easy for a remote desert water.
Humboldt River above the reservoir - stream fishing and a different character in the same drainage.
Humboldt River below the dam - tailwater fishing when releases are running.
Winnemucca - the larger regional town to the northeast, with full services.
Pyramid Lake - the celebrated Lahontan cutthroat fishery a longer drive west, a strong alternative.

Seasons

Spring: walleye move shallow after ice-out and this is the most productive and most popular period of the year.
Summer: wipers work bait near the surface and walleye move deeper, with catfish and bass steady along the rock.
Fall: cooling water brings walleye back within reach and the fishing improves again as crowds thin.
Winter: access can be limited and the reservoir is often drawn low, but shoreline fishing continues on mild days.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Rye Patch Reservoir?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Hybrid Striped Bass, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Tui Chub, Walleye, Wiper, Yellow Perch on the Rye Patch Reservoir in Nevada.

Where can you access the Rye Patch Reservoir?

Rye Patch State Recreation Area - the main access, with boat ramps, camping and shoreline parking. Lovelock - the Pershing County seat roughly twenty minutes south, with fuel, food, lodging and supplies. Interstate 80 - runs the length of the valley and makes access unusually easy for a remote desert water. Humboldt River above the reservoir - stream fishing and a different character in the same drainage. Humboldt River below the dam - tailwater fishing when releases are running. Winnemucca - the larger regional town to the northeast, with full services. Pyramid Lake - the celebrated Lahontan...

When is the best time to fish the Rye Patch Reservoir?

Spring: walleye move shallow after ice-out and this is the most productive and most popular period of the year. Summer: wipers work bait near the surface and walleye move deeper, with catfish and bass steady along the rock. Fall: cooling water brings walleye back within reach and the fishing improves again as crowds thin. Winter: access can be limited and the reservoir is often drawn low, but shoreline fishing continues on mild days.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Rye Patch Reservoir?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Nevada agency site: https://www.ndow.org/rules-regulations/