Wyoming lifts Casper-area afternoon closures on the North Platte and Deer Creek

Casper-area afternoon fishing is back on. Wyoming Game and Fish posted Sept. 14 that it had lifted the voluntary afternoon closures on the North Platte River downstream of Lusby Public Access Area and on Deer Creek through the Deer Creek PAA, effective immediately. Those heat-protection pauses had been in place since late July.

Biologists kept watching the thermometer. Cooler nights dropped stream temperatures into a safer band for trout, and the overnight cooling trend is expected to hold. Casper Region fisheries supervisor Matt Hahn thanked anglers for sitting out the hottest hours all summer.

The department still wants a pocket thermometer. If water approaches 70°F, pause catch-and-release for the day, land fish fast, and keep them wet. Statewide heat and voluntary-closure notes live on Game and Fish’s fishing-in-the-heat page. This Casper lift is a different water than the Green River voluntary catch-and-release lift posted earlier this month.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Wyoming Game and Fish — lifts voluntary fishing closures for North Platte River near Casper (Sept. 14, 2026).