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Last Updated: 8/16/2010 by James Anderson

The Stone | Spring Creeks | Yellowstone Park | Guide Services

Local & Private Lakes | CFS @ Corwin Springs | CFS @ Carter's

Yellowstone River

Paul Fingersh large and in charge! Photo: Eric Paulson

8.16 The river is back in shape and fishing well. We had mixed reports from Sunday - down low was pretty tough for most boats, but a couple did well with hoppers in the late afternoon. The fish are starting to get gun shy so be sure you're fishing 4X. Any smaller than that and you have a real fair fight on your hands, especially if a big brown smokes your hopper. Try dropper a little hopper, ant, or even a parachute adams to keep your fish numbers up. The big boys are still looking for the hopper...

8.12 Looks like you can beat the mud up high (above Yankee Jim) or down low (from Springdale down). Town is about 5 inches of almost white, chalky mud. Doesn't look like there are any more spikes but we do have a lot of rain in this week's forecast...

8.10 Looks like we could have some mud coming, unfortunately this time some thick mud. Both the Lamar and Soda Butte spiked, but to make matters worse there was another slide on the Gardiner. The good news is that getting ahead of the plug shouldn't be a problem for Wednesday 8/11. After that we'll have to see, but the forecasted 30-50% chance of afternoon thunderstorms this week might not help. At least the trout will a break and water temperatures should drop making later in the week or next week lights out.

8.9 Looks like both the Lamar and Soda Butte have had their spikes, finding gin clear water on the Yellowstone today might be a challenge. The good news is that the plugs have been small with no thick chocolate mud through the valley yet. Down low at Grey Bear last night you could tell there was a little sediment in the water, but that didn't stop Mr. big 'ole white fish from eating a streamer. Evening water temp was warm down there!

It's Hopper Time! James A. and Donna Allison with the fish of the

day. Nice work on the long drift Donna! Photo: Reid Allison

8.8 The morning was rather slow but the fish really started looking up for hoppers after lunch. LONG drifts were essential, just when we thought the our gig was up, a big rainbow would come up out of the depths of the eddie and excitedly sip our hopper. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in (with some vicious wind) and we had some tough fishing.

89 launch only?!? Is this some kind of bad dream?!?

8.7 Looks like we have a small plug of mud coming... Small spike on the CFS charts so things should be getting back to normal quickly. Check the web cam up high, we could have green is good even by tomorrow up high. Way down low around Big Timber the river left feeder creeks are kicking in some thick mud.

Grove Nichols starting the day right! This brown launched

out of the water twice with a couple tail kick style points.

8.6 The Valley has been fishing great right now. Rubber leg nymphs and beads in the mornings, hoppers and other terrestrials in the afternoons. You might try a hopper / bead dropper late morning until the fish really start looking up - then you're probably better off throwing two dries...

Hoppers are hot! Andy Babcock with a solid Valley brown...

8.5 Seems like a pattern is starting to develop this week: Blue bird sunny all morning and a couple hours after lunch, but big storms building in the afternoons. Sometimes when the clouds roll over the fish eat dries hard for an hour. Once the low pressure settles in the fishing can be tough - not to mention the "W". So long as the lightning is far away you might as well throw a streamer and go for the big dog... you probably won't be catching much at that point, so you might as well go big or go home...

Mike Dubis with a big 'ole brownie... Photo: Brian Sienkowski

8.4 The Shield's River is dumping in some thick mud from last night's heavy thunderstorm. Hopefully the mud will help get rid of some of the weed growth down low. No plugs coming from the park as of now so lots of boats have been going mid valley or above Emigrant. The dry fly fishing has been ticket, especially with small terrestrials.

Janet Rikula gettin' er done... Nice Brown! Photo: Bob Bergquist

8.2 There's been a lot of weeds out there lately. The worst of it has been down low but there have been reports of more algae bloom on "The Bird" and up by Carbella too. There was a small plug of mud up high but yesterday but everywhere is still "green is good" or better in terms of visibility.

While the weeds have been frustrating, the fish are still hitting the hoppers hard. Fishing dries on top is a great way to deal with the weeds. The good hopper fishing has been starting around noon and going into the evening. Still plenty of caddis hatching in the evening and sometimes throughout the day as well. A size 14 elk hair would do the trick, as would a lime trude or a small stimulator.

Livingston Spring Creeks

Peter Dam and Guide Bob Bergquist with a nice brown

The PMD hatch has been starting pretty early this year. Usually somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30AM. Before that you can try a mix of scuds, PMD drake nymphs, sawyer style PT's, midge larva patterns, maybe even swing a leech.

House of Harrop emergers have been a hot fly, both in dark olive and pale olive once the hatch gets going. A size #18 sparkle dun is a good indicator fly. Cripples have been a sneaky way to go too. Spinner Fall won't be until late. Get an early dinner and head back out around 8:00PM.

If the PMD's don't get going that strong, you'll probably see some midge dries. That doesn't sound too exciting, but when you see a fish working a bank and taking the occasional midge dry, your skills will be put to the ultimate test! Harrop's Hanging midge is one of our favorites, but you could also go with a Griffith's Gnat or another midge cluster.

Bring some terrestrials for the afternoon. We're already starting to see some nice fat hoppers in the grass along the banks... Ants and beetles are a little more stealthy and equally as effective at hooking the big ones. With 6 and 7X, it will certainly be a fair fight!

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Armstrong's Spring Creek

DePuy's Spring Creek

Nelson's Spring Creek

Read George's news on Nelson's Spring Creek

"Paradise Valley PMD Hatch" by George Anderson

Recommended Spring Creek

Fly Patterns

Olive Drake PMD nymphs #16-18

Copper Drake PMD nymphs #16-18

House of Harrop PMD sparkle dun 18-20

House of Harrop PMD compara dun 18 20

Zebra and Olive Juju midge emergers #18-22
Harrop Gray CDC Biot Midge emerger #20-24

Harrop LTV. Gray and Duke. Gray CDC midge emergers #18-22

Gray WD 40 midge emergers #18-22
Harrop CDC Transitional midge with trailing shuck #20-22
Silver or Black Bead Head Zebra midges #20-22
Olive midge larva #18-20
Tan (grey) Sparkle scuds #16-18
Olive Sparkle scuds #16-18
Gray sow bugs #18-20

Sawyer PT nymphs #18-20

Bead Head Thorax PMD nymph #18
Black wooly buggers #8-10

Pine Squirrel mini-leech #12

Barr Bouface leech black #8

Barr's Slump Buster Black or Olive #8-10
Rag Sculpins #4-6

Yellowstone National Park

Slough Creek has been fishing hot. Goldenstones, Yellow Sallies, PMD's, hoppers.... you'll see bugs galore up there. We should be seeing some green drakes up in the meadows by now. Lots of anglers fishing, but also plenty of fish for everyone. Sight fishing off those tall, grassy banks was awesome. The cutties would hone in on your fly and with a gentle tail kick, nonchalantly suck in your hopper or stonefly dry. On the down side, it was a long way to hike to see two pack horse trains and 20 people out there fishing... If solitude is important to your Montana vacation, we know of some spots that you'd like.

Recommended Spring Creek

Fly Patterns

Chubby Chernobyl #10-12

Rogue Salmonfly #8-10

Yellow Stimi #12-16

Chernobyl and #8-10

Mini Chernobyl ant #14

Green Drake Parachute #12-14

Green Drake Dun #12-14

Gray Drake Parachute #12-14

Gray Drake Dun #12-14

Copper Drake nymphs #16-18

House of Harrop PMD sparkle dun 18-20

House of Harrop PMD compara dun 18 20

Local and Private Lakes

Alain Bouchard with a monster 8 pound cutthroat...

Early July is a great time to fish private lakes in South Western Montana. The fish are enormous, the hatches are thick, the site fishing feels like saltwater flats fishing, and the solitude is relaxing.

We have access to many different private lakes that charge access fees of $75-$100 a day but access is usually limited to just your party so you'll have the lake to yourselves. Browns and rainbows right up to 7 and 8 pounds are not uncommon.