Yellowstone Park

Yellowstone Park 6-5-15

You can’t beat the Firehole River for good fishing in the Park right now. BWO, PMD, caddis, sally life cycle and soft hackled patterns are the way to go. The Ashton-Flagg Road remains closed beyond Calf Creek Hill, so only skiing will get you into Beula Lake and upper Fall River.  The road also remains closed from the Wyoming (Flagg Ranch) side.  Lewis Lake shoreline is producing some browns to those folks wading to presenting streamer patterns (be sure to have some featuring yellow) on sinking lines, and the same is happening for juvenile lake trout near Yellowstone Lake shorelines.  We hear these fish, in particular, are great eating baked, battered then fried, or as the major component of a fish chowder!

And remember: we are a Yellowstone Park and Montana fishing license vendor.

Yellowstone Park 5-30-15

The Firehole River is producing up to its early season reputation for fish responding to PMD, BWO, caddis life cycle and soft hackle patterns.  Big stoneflies coming out of Firehole Canyon are getting big time interest from upstream trout.  This is a relatively short event, so you’d better hurry if you want to enjoy it.  A few post spawning rainbows remain in the Madison River to take your streamer patterns.  Bechler River is fishable if you do not mind slogging through the wet meadows to present wet flies.  The same goes for Duck Creek.

Yellowstone Park 5-26-15

It was a stormy holiday weekend in the Park, but we hear those folks that braved the weather had good fishing in the Firehole River. Bad weather this time of year always means good fishing on the Firehole. With cool weather continuing into this week, fishing should hold up. Look for action from caddisflies, early season BWOs and increasing PMDs.  So be sure to have lifecycle patterns for these. Soft hackle patterns also produce, especially in tail-outs.

Yellowstone Park 5-22-15

The Firehole River will be in prime shape for the fishing season opening this Saturday (tomorrow). Expect fish to key on BWOs and various caddisflies.Yellowstone Lake, now free of ice, also opens to fishing on Saturday, and you must kill all lake trout caught. Lewis Lake is free of ice and opens to fishing Saturday. Presenting streamers while wading the shoreline (insulated waders will help you stay in the water!) will bring responses from resident brown trout. Go to the Park web site to view waters closed to fishing.

The Ashton-Flagg Road is open only to Calf Creek Hill. About two feet of snow remains on the road beyond that point. From the Wyoming side the road will not open until June 1st.

Yellowstone Park 8-26-14

Recent rains impacted fishing on Park streams. The Lamar River discolored quite a bit, and Slough Creek had some discolor. Conditions are returning to normal, so go back to trico patterns in the morning, terrestrial patterns during daytime, then caddis life cycle patterns in the evening. We are getting near the time of year when browns and rainbows begin migrations into the Madison River. So get those streamer patterns into fishing shape!

Yellowstone Park 8-16-14

Here’s a blanket statement for all Park streams with a higher gradient (ie: Gallatin River, Snake River, lower Lewis River, upper Gibbon River, Cave Falls area on Fall River): expect action with caddis life cycle patterns in the evening, spinners in the AM and again in the evening, and terrestrial patterns during daytime. Any day now, as we cool off, tricos will become important enough for fish to take notice on many streams and even still waters.  Be assured that as a result there will be many places in the Park that will offer great AM fishing.

Yellowstone Park 8-12-14

Best tactic for almost all meadow streams here is presenting terrestrial patterns. The exceptions are the meadow reaches of the Madison River drainage where water temperatures are high enough to stress fish when being caught. But for Fall River Basin streams (Bechler and Fall Rivers, Boundary and Mountain Ash Creeks), Slough, Obsidian, and Soda Butte Creeks, and Lamar River, hopper, ant, and beetle patterns will bring your best chances for action. As I have mentioned in past reports, the humpy is a superb deerfly and horsefly pattern. Do not be on the stream without it!  Best still water action in the Park is, as usual this time of year, at Beula Lake where gulpers are active.  You can fish them from shore or from the float tube you backpack in. Small leech patterns will always get you chances for action there. If you do not want to do the two and a half mile walk to Beula, the two mile walk over flat ground to Riddle Lake gets you into the same action, albeit by smaller cutts. Fish the northwest corner of the lake from shore .

Yellowstone Park 8-2-14

Terrestrial patterns are about the most important dry flies to have in the box these days for success on Park streams. This includes hoppers (of course), ants, craneflies, and beetles.  So many flyfishers forget patterns for a terrestrial not in the above list of suggestions.  That would be  patterns to simulate deer flies and horseflies. If you enjoy fishing meadow streams such as Slough, Boundary, Duck, and Soda Butte Creeks or Bechler, Fall, Madison, or Gibbon Rivers, you know how annoying these pests can be. They seem most numerous on the brightly sunlit areas of these and other like waters, and their bite hurts like “——!” I have been accused of “chumming” when I swat one, then flick the crushed result into the water to wait for a downstream take. When I hear that rise take place, I put an imitation on and go for it.  A big, juicy looking humpy is my favorite for this purpose, but choose your favorite, and with a downstream drift, you are sure to have action.