Yellowstone Park

Yellowstone Park 6-15-19

Most rivers are running high and discolored. The Firehole River is an exception where white miller and soft hackle patterns produce best. The Gibbon River in the canyon offers good fishing when traditional wet and dry attractor patterns are presented.   The Madison River also offers some success through presenting caddis life cycle, BWO life cycle, and streamer patterns.   Trout Lake opens for fishing today and offers a chance for big cutthroat and cuttbows. Packing in a flotation device is not needed for success here because much of the shoreline is open. Yellowstone Lake is offering good fishing near shorelines for lake trout (kill ’em) and some cruising cutthroat when streamer and woolly bugger types are presented.  The same goes for Lewis Lake. You will walk through snow patches  on going into Shoshone Lake. But by packing in a flotation device your reward will be great fishing through presenting leech and streamer patterns around submerged weed beds. The Ashton-Flagg Road will take several days to be passable, so access to Beula Lake and high and discolored Fall River and Mountain Ash Creek is several days away. Bechler Meadows remains submerged with icy cold run-off water.

Yellowstone Park 6-11-19

Firehole River still offers best fishing with BWO, PMD, and caddis life cycle patterns effective, especially soft hackle patterns. Look for increasing white miller activity.  Lower Gibbon River (canyon stretch) good fishing with streamers.   Lewis River high and clear. Try streamers in meadow stretch off South Entrance Highway crossing below Lewis Falls.  Almost all other streams high and discolored.   Ice is off Shoshone and Lewis Lakes. Trails into Shoshone Lake have large areas of snow.

Yellowstone Park 5-25-19

Fishing season opens today.  The Firehole will provide the best fishing with BWOs making resident fish active. Use life cycle patterns beginning with nymphs early (unless there are a good amount of rise forms) and changing over to emerger and dun patterns as the day advances. Although the Madison is running a bit high, BWOs are doing the same in the river along the West Entrance Road, so use same strategy as on the Firehole.  Also for both rivers be sure to have a few streamer patterns in that fly box.

Look for all other streams in the park to be running high for some time. This is because of  last winter’s copious snowfall beginning to run off.

Another thought: the park weather is likely cold and stormy, so bring appropriate gear.

Yellowstone Park 5-21-19

Yellowstone Park fishing licenses, all classes, and regulations arrived in the shop yesterday. Park fishing season opens Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  Firehole River will likely provide the best fishing with caddis and BWO life cycle patterns being the best choices to present.

Yellowstone Park 11-3-18

Want to fish anywhere in the Park?  You better hurry. Fishing season there closes at the end of the day tomorrow!

Yellowstone Park 10-27-18

The fishing season here has only eight more days as it is closed after Sunday, November 4th.  The best streamer fishing of the season is going on, mainly for brown trout and run-up rainbows in the Madison and lower Gibbon.  Other rivers featuring good numbers of migrating browns include the Lewis, Gardiner, Snake, and Firehole below the falls. Other than these, the Firehole above the falls features BWO and white miller hatches.  Watch the weather!

Yellowstone Park 10-13-18

It’s brown trout season with runs into the Lewis, Madison, and Gibbon River going in full swing.  The Gardner and Snake Rivers will soon be in that category.  If pitching big streamers is not your game, the Firehole offers good results for those presenting BWO life cycle and white miller patterns. Regardless of your preference, be prepared for wintry changes in the weather, and realize that fishing season closes after the first Sunday in November.

Yellowstone Park 9-29-18

This is the best time to be fishing in the park.  Biting insects are about gone, bull elk are providing natural sound effects, most recreational fly-fishers are also gone, so only the hard core is left. It seems that almost every piece of water will offer something to those hard core fly-fishers that stay within. With respect to still waters, Beula Lake will remain the best still water (with respect to action, not size) in the park.  The Lewis Lake shoreline, especially below the campground and near the channel inlet will be a streamer junkie’s delight with migrating browns.  If you do not mind the three-mile walk carrying a flotation device down DeLacey Creek trail, there will be plenty of juvenile lake trout lurking around submerged weed beds in Shoshone Lake to take black marabou leeches or scud patterns presented on a full sink line.  Late in October the big cuttbows in Trout Lake will take scud patterns in efforts to stock up for the coming winter.   There are more streams that are offering good fishing than you can try in the remainder of the season.  Anywhere along the Madison River, through pitching big streamer patterns, you will encounter those big, beautiful run-up browns and ‘bows from Hebgen Lake.   Late in October the brief run of browns  into the Snake River and some of its tributaries and the run of Yellowstone River browns into the lower Gardner River will give streamer lovers some variety.  The Firehole River fall baetis and white miller activity will be the place for the small dry fly pattern purist. All meadow streams ( Fall River Basin streams,  the river in Gibbon Meadows, Slough and Soda Butte Creeks, Lamar River) will offer early morning trico activity followed by mid-day terrestrial insects shaking off the morning chill. It is truly a late season fly-fishing heaven.

Yellowstone Park 9-11-18

If you are a dry fly enthusiast, presenting hopper patterns is the way to success especially on any Park meadow stream. Watch the Park weather reports before you venture to the northeast corner. Recent storms have discolored the Lamar River. Slough and Soda Butte Creeks are less likely to discolor, but they too can become quite crowded at or near roadside locations.  At the southwest corner of the park you will not find crowded fishing on Fall River Basin streams, and they are unlikely to discolor.  AM trico activity compliments the daytime use of hopper and other terrestrial insect patterns there. The Firehole River is cooling off, and BWO life cycle, terrestrial insect, white miller, and soft hackle patterns will work and do so even better during stormy periods.  If you are a streamer enthusiast, the Madison River is now hosting run-up browns and ‘bows from Hebgen Lake. Best times to encounter them is during low light periods.  Are you looking for a small stream that offers fast action? Try Obsidian Creek or any other stream in the upper Gardner River drainage.  Are you looking for the best still water fishing in the Park? Nowhere beats Beula Lake this time of year where small leech, small beadhead nymph and cinnamon caddis patterns bring action.

Yellowstone Park 8-25-18

For all Fall River Basin streams fishing success boils down to presenting trico life cycle patterns during AM hours and terrestrial insect patterns afterwards.  In slower waters speckled dun life cycle patterns can be effective.  Mosquitoes are mostly gone, but horse flies have taken over as top rated pest. Expect fishing success in all meadow reaches to slow during mid-day hours.   Same applies to all such streams in the Park and outside.