Know which Wind River you are fishing
The Wind River heads near Togwotee Pass, runs southeast past Dubois, crosses the Wind River Indian Reservation to Riverton and Boysen Reservoir, then cuts north through Wind River Canyon to the Wedding of the Waters near Thermopolis, where it takes the name Bighorn. For an angler that is two different fisheries with two different licensing systems. Around Dubois, above the reservation's western boundary, it is Wyoming Game and Fish water in Drainage Area 2. From that boundary down through the canyon it is reservation water, and the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes require a tribal fishing permit; WGFD's own brochure notes the tribes require a permit for anyone even traveling on reservation land, fishing or not.
The Red Creek gauge reads Dubois, not the canyon
The gauge on this page sits below Dubois and above Crowheart, and it describes the upper river. Every USGS gauge the state hub lists for the Wind is above Boysen Reservoir, so none of them says anything about Wind River Canyon, where the flow is whatever Boysen Dam releases. The dam's outlet works carry up to 1,300 cfs through two 7,500 kilowatt units; the old USGS gauge below it, whose record ends in 2016, averaged roughly 950 to 1,170 cfs from October through April and about 2,350 in June and July. Check that release before driving to Thermopolis.
For the Dubois water, no shop publishes a flow range, so the 350 to 550 cfs band here comes from the USGS record at this gauge: 545 cfs is the August mean, 383 September and 346 October. June averages 2,634 and July 1,266, which is why Wind River Canyon Whitewater says its upper-river season opens in late June with streamers and nymphs and turns to dries as the river drops and clears. The gauge ran between 322 and 462 cfs in the two weeks to September 24, 2026. The smaller gauge near Dubois, upstream of town, drains 230 square miles against 1,081 here.
Dunoir to Painted Hills: the Dubois access areas
WGFD's Lander region manages a string of small public access areas, all open year round, most just off U.S. 287/26. Wind River-Dunoir, northwest of Dubois, is an easement with one parking area for fishing only: no camping, fires or hunting and no boat launch. Southeast of town, Wind River-Sawmill off Absaroka Drive has two parking areas north of the bridge and handicapped-accessible fishing platforms on a concrete sidewalk. Landen, North Parker and South Parker follow, each under an acre, and Painted Hills sits at the Red Hills Road bridge. Jakey's Fork has its own area on that tributary. WGFD calls the fishing for cutthroat, brown and rainbow trout and whitefish on the upper Wind excellent, and Cutthroat Fly Shop in Dubois guides for wild browns and cutthroat.
WGFD's Area 2 rules apply here: 3 trout from streams, only 1 over 16 inches, 16 brook trout and 6 whitefish, fishing open all year around the clock. The East Fork drainage upstream of its confluence, including Bear Creek and the Wiggins Fork, is artificial flies and lures only with all cutthroat released. Live baitfish are banned in Area 2 outside a few listed waters. A nonresident pays $14 for a day or $56 for five, or $102 plus a $21.50 conservation stamp for a year.
Wind River Canyon on a tribal permit
Tribal Fish and Game in Fort Washakie (307-332-7207) sets the canyon rules. Every permit holder needs a $20 recreation stamp; a nonresident permit is $40 a day, $90 for seven days or $135 a year, and residents pay $35, $65 or $95. Permits are sold online and at vendors including Wind River Canyon Whitewater and Mack's Market in Thermopolis, The Fast Lane in Shoshoni, and Cutthroat Fly Shop and Big Wind River Float Trips in Dubois. In the canyon only the east bank is open, all year; the west bank is closed all year. The Wind River outside the canyon is open April 1 through September 30. The tribal limit is 5 trout with only 1 at 20 inches or over, 4 walleye, 2 sauger and 2 ling. Boat fishing is closed on reservation streams, rafting in the canyon needs Inter-Tribal Council approval, and outfitters must be tribally licensed. Wind River Canyon Whitewater and Fly Fishing, Native American owned since 1992, holds the only commercial outfitting permit in the canyon and keeps itself to one boat a day in each half.
Whether you also need a Wyoming license on reservation water is not answered by the tribal rules or WGFD, and the outfitter's own trip pages differ, so ask the tribal office when you buy. Below the Wedding of the Waters the river is the Bighorn and WGFD rules apply. Boysen Dam, finished in 1952 about 17 miles south of Thermopolis, replaced an earlier dam Asmus Boysen built in 1908.
Streamers early, stones in July, hoppers after the hay
No shop publishes a Wind River hatch chart. Wind River Canyon Whitewater describes the upper Big Wind as streamer and nymph water from late June to mid-July, then big dry patterns, golden stones and caddis from mid to late July, and hoppers once ranchers cut their hay. In the canyon it fishes nymphs and streamers in late spring and early summer and dries through summer and fall. East Rosebud Fly and Tackle's Thermopolis store reported black and tan caddis, Trico spinners and orange scuds working on the Bighorn just below the canyon in September 2025.