Hate them all you want, but there is no denying that Wyoming’s suckers are tough fish.
They proved it again this year as the only survivors of a massive winter die-off fish in Meeboer Lake, which is part of the popular Laramie Plains Lakes fishery west of the city.
It was the second year in a row that winterkill claimed all the trout in the lake. A netting survey earlier this month produced some suckers, but no trout, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced Friday.
“All of our Plains Lakes are susceptible to winterkill. They are all shallow with lots of plant growth,” Bobby Compton, Game and Fish supervisor of the Laramie Region Fisheries, told Cowboy State Daily.
Game and Fish responded quickly by restocking the lake with trout, some of which should grow into whoppers by fall, Compton said.
Local angler and fishing guide Christopher Rice told Cowboy State Daily that he and some friends have cast some lines at Meeboer Lake.
“There was nothing to write home about, just some small rainbows (rainbow trout),” he said.
By fall, things might be good enough to take some clients there, added Rice, who owns Gem City Custom Rod and Flies.
Plants A Blessing And Curse
The abundant plant live covering the entire bottoms of Meeboer Lake and the others plains lakes is both a benefit and a bane for fish there, Compton said.
In lake water deeper than about 10 feet, not enough light can penetrate for plant growth. So in most lakes, plants are limited to the edges along the shoreline, he said.
Like the other Laramie Plainsa Lakes, however, Meeboer has average depths of about 4-6 feet, reaching 12-14 feet only at its deepest.
That means most of the lake’s bottom is covered in an abundance of plant life, which is great during the spring and summer because it provides lots of food for the bugs that fish eat.
That’s why the restoked fish in Meeboer Lake are expected to grow rapidly over the summer, Compton said.
However, if the lake is covered thick ice with snow on top of it during the winter, that completely cuts off the light, which causes the plants to die.
And the decaying plants suck precious oxygen out of the water, leaving too little for the fish.
Meeboer Lake in Albany County, Wyoming. (Libby Megna via Flikr) 
Meeboer Lake near Laramie, Wyoming, was recently restocked with trout after all the trout died over the winter. (Wyoming Game and Fish)
All Nature This Time Around
Like the other plains lakes, Meeboer has an aeration system that helps keep fish from dying of oxygen depredation during the winter, Compton said.
That system failed in February 2023, which resulted in last year’s mass die-off.
This winter, it was all nature, Compton said. The ice and snow on the lake was tick enough to overwhelm the aeration system.
And so, all the fish died over the summer — except for the suckers, that is.
Apparently, besides being perhaps just too stubborn to die, suckers don’t need as much oxygen as trout do, he said.
“The suckers can just tolerate lower oxygen levels. Fish are all very different in what they need,” Compton said.
Quick Comeback
Game and Fish restoked the lake with various trout, including cutthroat and rainbows. There were a few around 15 inches, and some around 9 inches long, Compton said.
“Those fish might grow by as much as an inch a month because of the abundant food supply,” he said.
It’s a bit of bummer that Meeboer Lake is at least somewhat out of the running right now, because it’s prime time for spring fishing, Rice said.
But there are plenty of other places to go around Laramie and the region, he said.
Winter runoff from the Snowy Range Mountains hasn’t hit yet, and the fish are hungry after coming through winter.
Along streams and rivers, the runoff can make the water too rapid and full of sediment for ideal fishing, Rice said. So angling isn’t great until it dies down.
Runoff usually hits sometime in May, but might be late this year.
“We just had snow in town,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
