Middle Fork Powder River

The Middle Fork Powder River drops out of the Bighorn Mountains and cuts through red-rock high desert country near Kaycee, in the Hole-in-the-Wall outlaw country made famous by Butch Cassidy. Wyoming Game and Fish Department manages this stretch as blue ribbon trout water.

Brown trout and rainbows hold in deep pools and undercut banks along this remote freestone stream. Access is limited and mostly through BLM and private land with public fishing easements; check current landowner access maps before you go, since much of the surrounding ranchland is private. USGS gauges near Kaycee and upstream at Barnum track flow through the canyon.

This is a lightly pressured stream by Wyoming standards, in part because of the access limitations. Summer flows drop enough for good wade fishing by July.