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Yellowstone Park

Jimmy's All Seasons Angler / Yellowstone Park (Page 28)

Yellowstone Park 8-19-2011

We hear that Slough Creek is producing like it should for the time of year.  That means put most of your efforts on presenting terrestrial patterns.  The further upstream you go, the fewer folks you will find fishing.  If you are not into walking the several miles needed for a round-trip visit there, try Soda Butte Creek which is also producing well, but expect crowds.  The Lamar River is another in the northeast corner of the Park that is fishing well for those presenting terrestrial patterns, but is the most subject to becoming discolored because of thundershowers in its larger drainage.  Forget fishing Trout Lake until later in October.  On the diagonally opposite end of the Park, Fall River Basin streams remain a bit high for this time of the season, but fish will come up to carefully presented terrestrial patterns.  And, yes, Beula Lake still offers, and will continue to offer for weeks to come, some of the fastest fishing in the Park if you present speckled dun, trico, and damselfly life cycle patterns.

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Yellowstone Park 8-8-2011

Water remains high in Fall River Basin streams. This means fish respond best to wet flies.  If you must fish dry, try large attractor patterns to tempt the big ones off the bottom. Hoppers are appearing around the edge of meadows, but it looks like it will be a while before they will be important for big resident trout.   The more the water drops, the better will become their interest in going to the surface.

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Yellowstone Park 8-05-2011

Recent rains have raised flows significantly in Fall River Basin streams.   This will prolong wet fly fishing as the most effective way to encounter the great cutthroat-rainbow hybrids there. Looks like hoppers will not be important in meadow reaches for a while.  These have to dry out  for that to happen.  Beula Lake is producing well.   Float tubing is the best way to get into action from the native Yellowstone cutthroat population.  You will have to carry that tube 2.75 miles up the trail to do so, but those cutts make the effort worth it.

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Yellowstone Park 8-01-2011

With runoff out of the system(finally!), Park waters are where we normally expect them.  Yes streams remain a bit high, but this is good for the fish. In the Madison River drainage, the river itself is fishing well, and so is the Gibbon.   Caddis and PMD life cycle patterns work, so do ants & beetle patterns. Soon spruce moth and hopper patterns will be important  to have in the fly box when you visit the Madison or the Gallatin rivers. So stock up on them now.  In Fall River Basin streams remain somewhat higher than normal, but don’t let that stop you from giving them a try.  Cutbows remain fat as mud through long weeks of living on annelids, grubs, etc.  The big fish are still looking for them and ignore the PMDs and green drakes. Right now a twenty-inch hybrid will go four pounds–easy.  When the streams drop further and insects become major in their diets, these fish will lose weight. Kinda like us switching from ice cream to sugar-free popsicles!   Beware of mosquitoes in the timber and horseflies in the meadows.   Want to have a twenty-five fish day without exaggerating? Pack your float tube into Beula Lake (2.75 miles) and present dragonfly and speckled dun life cycle patterns.  Contact us to learn how to get there.

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Yellowstone Park 7-27-2011

Fall River Basin streams remain high, but fishing with sink tip lines and weighted flies will bring results.  Hatches are ongoing, but are compressed.  Green drakes, PMDs, and sallys bring afternoon action. No hoppers yet, but ants and beetles are worth trying  afternoons.   Beware of mosquitoes especially in timber during evenings and horseflies in open areas.  Beula Lake continues to provide great action. Try damselfly life cycle patterns.

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Yellowstone Park 7-18-2011

Waters are finally beginning to recede. The Madison River drainage remains in the best condition.  Afternoon PMDs and evening caddis activity result in action. The Firehole River is warming to levels where fish can become stressed while being played. Let’s give ’em a break until we cool off in September.  If you are up the Firehole’s way, why not try the Gibbon River. It’s a smaller version, but it holds fish just as large, if not larger.  That’s right: the official largest brown trout caught in Yellowstone Park is from the Gibbon in the meadow reach.  Going north out of West Yellowstone, Duck Creek in the meadow is every bit as challenging as any water around. Right now beetles and ants would bring the best chances for big resident ‘bows and browns, but you had better be a “Henry’s Fork Hunchback”.  Fall River Basin and Lamar River drainage streams remain high, but are dropping and clearing. The Lewis River is high, clear and suitable for fishing.  Pelican Creek is open to fishing, but few fish are present. Right now some of the fastest fishing in the Park is in Beula Lake.  It is all Yellowstone cutts, and they range up to near twenty inches.  Riddle Lake may be a close second, but the cutts are smaller.

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Yellowstone Park 7-5-2011

Firehole River remains star of the show in Park rivers with white millers and PMDs bringing most action. The Gibbon has cleared and lowered enough to offer good fishing.   Golden stones are around, and late evening brown drakes are bringing up fish in upper river meadow reaches. Duck Creek’s evening brown drake emergence is ongoing. The Madison River is fishing well during  AMs when PMDs are active, and evenings when caddisflies take over.   Shoshone Lake offers great fishing if you get out in the lake a ways with such as a boat or float tube.  Fish are scattered around the lake, but will soon move to weed beds as they grow and host more food.  For now, any small leech pattern will do.  Fall River Basin you ask?  The Ashton-Flagg Road is open, but trails to such as Beula Lake remain with snow.  All streams in the Basin are high with run-off.   Northeast corner of the park streams (Soda Butte, Lamar, Slough), too.  Kinda look like your AM coffee & cream.

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Yellowstone Park 7-2-2011

We walked into Shoshone Lake down the DeLacey trail yesterday packing float tubes to get out to weed beds where browns and juvenile mackinaw (macks) hang out.  Never have seen so much snow on the trail and water in Delacey Creek.  The first mile of trail is nearly half snow covered with drift remnants up to three feet deep. But trail is passable with a bit of blowdown. We got onto the lake and pitched wooly bugger types on full-sink lines and got into plenty of  macks ranging 17-22 inches.   Lake appeared to be in the turnover process as murky water prevented us from locating weed beds at about twenty foot depth, but it didn’t matter as fish seemed scattered all over resulting in hits almost everywhere except very near shoreline.  Nearly all Park streams remain high with several days of current warm weather needed to finish run off.   Lots of folks fishing the high and clear Firehole River. The Ashton-Flagg road remains closed form the Idaho side.

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Yellowstone Park 6-29-2011

Two great events that will be happening soon will brown drake emergences on the Gibbon River in the upper meadows and on Duck Creek.   Cold, high waters may delay or spread out the Gibbon River event, but the one on Duck Creek should be about on time.  Both are evening affairs, so have a great dinner in West Yellowstone, then head to the waters.  Expect good fishing until dark. Fishing on the Firehole River is holding up with PMDs, BWOs and white millers making for action.  For Fall River Basin enthusiasts, don’t expect the Ashton Flagg Road to be open from the Idaho side for a week or two.   Also flows in Fall River coming out of the basin are about double normal, so meadow reaches in the basin are presently akin to cranberry bogs.   Expect some great fishing there later this summer, and fantastic  mosquito hatches through July.

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Yellowstone Park 6-22-2011

Lewis and Shoshone lakes are now ice free. Expect to walk through snow if you walk into Shoshone.   Fall River Basin streams remain weeks away from being run-off free.   Firehole River remains best stream to fish with BWO, PMD and caddis activity interesting fish.  Duck Creek, although running high, is also good fishing.  Use anything that resembles an earthworm.  Now is the time to fish Trout Lake.  Try damselfly nymph, scud, small leech, midge pupa, and snail patterns.

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