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Last Updated: 8/15/2009 by James Anderson

The Stone | Spring Creeks | Yellowstone Park | Guide Services

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

Yellowstone River

8/15

Livingston has been taking a pounding by the weather lately. The good news is that the Lamar and Gardner didn't spike, so the upper Yellowstone should be safe from a plug for now... Looks like 40% of scatterd thunderstorms for this weekend. If you're not opposed to fishing subsurface, a guy might be inclinded to fish a streamer when the clouds are hoving. Otherwise get your favorite hopper in the water and leave it in there...

8/13

I guess brown trout can jump! Peter Parker caught this brown on a spider close to the bank. Click here for more photos of the day...

Big fish day on the river! The sun was periodical, but the dinner bell was ringing loud and clear when the hoppers began making that clicking sound. There were a few slower moments in the morning but the afternoon was totally ON FIRE. John Tyler senior landed one of the thickest 21 inch browns we've seen in a while. Meanwhile John Tyler Jr. and Peter Parker were hooking 18 inch trout left and right on the hopper. Bob's boat smoked a bunch of big browns and rainbows as well. Hank and his crew put the hurt on them as well, landing several hogs over the 20 inch mark. The big boys are up - better get out there tomorrow while the fishing is hot - we have a couple sever thunderstorm warnings in the area...

8/12

We floated Carter's to Sheep today. Great sticks in the boat, awesome morning, 3 big T-cells in the afternoon which totally flipped the switch. I hid under someone's rig at Mayor's as all hail broke loose - the size of Taco John's ice to be exact. They fishing probably would have been great after the storm, but we got pounded by two more fronts, each full of hurricane wind and heavy rain. Thank God for GORE-TEX®. I heard Down Low fished well, the weather just dodged the river from Pigfarm to Big Timber. We had a ton of hits on Hoppers and smaller dries in the morning and some big eats as well. Unfortunately we caught one in the gills and although I cut the fly off unfortunately it was clear that the fish wasn't going to make it. I suppose that's the one bad thing about fishing a lot is you eventually harm a few. "Oh well, at least we can say we killed 'em today..."

8/11

We're in hopper/dropper prime time right now. If you just want to throw one fly, I'd make it a small hopper. Otherwise a larger hopper will support a bigger nymph or throw two dries if you prefer getting tighter shots to the bank. We started off in the parking lot learning how to cast, mend, strike, and play fish. But by the end of the day Brian and Amy had landed 6 nice fish and lost an 18" brown and a 20" brown - both on HOPPERS! We saw some Spruce moths on the water in the morning. A little trude or Turk's worked well for a dropper on those. Click here for more pics.

8/10

James Anderson with a down town brown. Photo: Kitty Anderson

The fish were looking up for hoppers big time today. The fishing was awesome; the catching however; could have been better... We moved 15 fish but only hooked and landed 3! So do as I say and not as I do - let the fish eat the fly and don't rip it out of their mouths! Actually, each eat was different in it's own way. The dinks were ricocheting off the fly faster than a bullet, while the larger trout were taking their sweet time to inspect the fly before sinking in their teeth. Two of the three fish we caught were out in the middle of the river; the brown above was tucked up to the rip rap as tight to the rocks possible. A long dead drift was the key, sometimes we had to stack mend the leader or high stick it over the fast water, enabling our fly to look juicy in the slower pocket water. Tomorrow should be a good day to call in sick...

8/9

Paul Fingersh the man not the myth! Photo: Eric Paulson

Looks like the weather is starting to give us a break. The 20% chance of isolated thunderstorms in the area has been pushed backed to blue and sunny skies. The river is clearing above Yankee Jim, so we could have some seriously good fishing the next few days of rebound. Give us a call tomorrow or check the webcam below Gardiner to see if anything has changed. 222-7130.

8/8

Brent Johnson putting the Home Invader to work! Photo: Doug M.

We've been battling the elements over here the last few days. Heavy rains, hail, lighting, thunder, and big gusts of wind have made the fishing (and rowing) a challenge to say the least. The calm before and after the storms, however, have been rewarding. Big Timber has been absolutely pounded by weather and many of the feeder creeks down low are pumping in chalky, thick mud, making the fishing marginal at best. This should clear up quickly in the next couple of days, but don't assume you can beat the plug down low. To make matters worse, we have more mud coming from the Lamar, so floating up high would be tough as well. Right now there is a small section of "green is good" water between Livingston and Big Timber.

8/7

Sally Nichols landed this vibrant brown as the rain let up

The Yellowstone has had some squirrely weather the last few days. There have been some heavy rains here in Livingston as well as the Park so I'd forget about floating up high today. If you were on the river yesterday there's a good chance you got to experience some hail on the Yellowstone. Those are the days you never forget, and possibly the only days where a bad day fishing doesn't beat a great day at work... Despite the inclement weather the fish are still chomping the hoppers. Try some old school hoppers for a different look since they've seen a few regulars already.

8/3

Ben Osantowski with a nice Yellowstone Cutthroat

In general the Yellowstone has been fishing well this week. If you fish the Stone a lot, then you know some days are red hot, while other days the bite isn't quite on as much as we'd hope. That's freestone rivers for you, and unfortunately the Yellowstone follows suit with finicky fishing. One day you'll boat 30 trout, and the next day in the same section you'll only boat 5 - Go figure... Fish have been crushing the hoppers, and while hook up rates vary, it's definitely worth playing the hopper dropper game right now, even in the morning before you'd think the hoppers are out.

8/2

Can you pass the soy sauce and wasabi?

Megan Doyle prepares to turn a live brown trout into sushi...

It rained hard up by Carbella today, while Big Twig managed to stay dry. The bite was back on, once again proving that the Stone can be a very fickle river. A lot of the guides and outfitters put 30 fish into the boat today, with several fish in the 16-18 inch mark. We'll see if any mud comes down tomorrow, but so far so good...

8/1

Brandon Kelly on the upper Yellowstone. Photo: Hank Bechard

The bite on the Yellowstone was a little slower than yesterday, at least through town. Still the fish were looking up and eating hoppers even as early as 9:00 in the morning. Rubber legs, beadheads, and small buggers are all good options for going under. We've been fishing smaller beadheads in the 16-18 inch range for the trout, slightly bigger if you don't mind the occasional whitefish hook up. On top it really doesn't matter what kind of hopper you have, just make sure you are getting a dead drift and you're in the game. A mini twitch here and there can be deadly as well, but don't tug the hopper underwater. Bring lots of Dry Shake or Frog's Fanny to make sure your hopper is riding high and both you and the fish can see it better... 2X has been fine so far, but as the summer continues, usually we'll back it off to 3 or 4X tippet to get the best drifts possible...

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Grand Hopper #4-8

Frankenhopper #6-8

Chernobyl Hopper #4-8

Chernobyl Ant #4-8

Chubby Chernobyl #4-8

BLT Hopper (all colors) #4-8

Tan Fat Albert #6-8

Morish Hopper #6-8

Dave's Hopper #4-8

Whitlock Hopper #4-8

Stalcup Hopper #6-8

McKnight's Hopper #2-6

Joe's Hopper #6-8

Big Secret Cricket #4-8

Ninja Cicada #6-8

Black Magic #4-8

Bow River Buggers #4-8

Black leadeye Bugger #4-8

Rubberlegs (all colors) #6-10

George's Brown stone #4-8

Strom's Stone #8-10

Epoxy Back Goldenstones #10-12

Copper Johns (all colors) #14-18

Beadhead Prince #14-18

Beadhead Pheasant tails #14-18

Spring Creeks

Lucinda Johnson stuck this big brown on a hopper at Armstrong's

The PMD's have been coming off around 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. There's not much happening before then (maybe a few midges), but it never hurts to get out there and pick your spot early. When the hatch gets going the fish seemingly show up out of the weeds and begin munching on emergers and cripples. It takes some good casting (and some good drifts) but those who are dialed into the game have been doing really well out there. Harrop's sparkle dun and comparadun have been working well for us, as well as his emerger in both the light and darker green colors. When in doubt, go smaller than you need to. A lot of the naturals are a 17, 18, but with flies the fish have been preferring the sparsely tied 18-20's. Stalcup's PMD with the cellophane wing has been good to us as well - you can shape the wings to look like a cripple or a spinner. Bring plenty of sulphurs if you plan on staying late. The naturals are small, maybe a 20 or even 22, but you can oversize slightly. They are much more orange than the PMD's, so be sure to have at least a few in your box. Whatever you do, stock up on your favorite 6X tippet, you'll need it! Some guides have even been fishing 7X everyday...

Jaydon O'hair gets a nice drift out at Armstrong's Spring Creek

while working on his 4H fly fishing project.

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

HATCHES

Randall Hicks put this beautiful Armstrong's brown in the net

with the help of John Barr's Meat Whistle!

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Harrop's PMD Sparkle Dun #18-20
Harrop's PMD olive short wing emerger #18-20
Harrop's PMD half and half emerger #18-20

Harrop's Last Chance Cripple #18-20

Stalcups Cellophane wing cripple #18-20
HD PMD Emerger #16-20
PMD Captive Dun#16-20
CDC PMD Transitional Dun #16-20
PMD Biot Thorax #16-20
Angle Case PMD emerger #18

Wollum's PMD nymph #18-20
Various Dave Student PMD nymphs #16-20
Black Zebra midges #18
Olive midge larva #18
Tan (grey) Sparkle scuds #18
Olive Sparkle scuds #18
Bighorn sow bugs #18
Black leadeye buggers #8
Rag Sculpins #4-6
Brown Home Invader #6

Grand Hopper #6-10

Whitlock Hopper #6-10

Foam Beetle #16-18

Harrop's peacock beetle #16-18

Harrop's black ant #16-18

Barr's Meat Whistle (brown) #4

Local & Private Lakes

Howard Guja bringing another big bow to the kick boat.

This one fell for the Bo Face leech. Click here for more photos...

Looking to hook a hog? Let us hook you up with one of the local or private lakes we fish. The spring is one of the best times to target BIG fish. This time of year can be outstanding sight fishing, as many of these fish haven't seen flies in a while. Once the summer roles around, the same big fish will hang out in deeper, cooler water - so now is one of your best chances to catch them!

We realize that lake fishing isn't for everyone. It really isn't, but our combination of great guides and exclusive lakes usually makes for a phenomenal day on the water. Learning different stillwater techniques could prove useful back home too! A lot of our clients will pass at first on the notion of coming out to Montana to fish lakes, but those who give it a shot almost always come back for more. After getting hog or two under their belts, a few of our clients have even made the switch to only fish lakes, forgetting about our blue ribbon rivers altogether!

HATCHES

Midges, Callibaetis, Damsels, leeches, dragon fly nymphs, scuds, snails, traveling sedges, cicadas, and hoppers should cover you. A lot of times before callibaetis hatch comes on you'll see fish eating callibaetis spinners from the night before. Even during the thick of the hatch the fish will key in on the spinners. Since the spinners are hard to see, you'll want to fish them behind a hopper, damsel dry, or a callibaetis dun. Leeches have been especially deadly for us, as well as John Barr's damsel nymph. Most of the scuds are grey or olive in the lakes we've been fishing. Also be sure to bring a few lake midges or big zebra midges if the going gets tough. Also before you give it up, try a few different streamers that the fish may have never seen before, you never know sometimes the ugly stuff can create a fair amount of curiosity...

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Lake Chironomids #14

Copper bead black zebra midge #18

Purple or Red oversized zebra midge #14

René Harrop parachute Callibaetis #16

René Harrop Callibaetis Spinners #16

Epoxy bead Callibaetis nymphs #14-16

Grey Sparkle scuds #14-18

Olive Sparkle scuds #14-18

Pig Pen Leech #6

Beadhead Bo face leech #6

Olive multicolored wooly bugger #6-8

Olive multicolored leadeye #6-8

Barr Damsel nymph #14-16

Whitlock Dragon fly nymph #12-14

Yellowstone National Park

A big Mormon Cricket found in the Lamar Valley

The Park has been fishing awesome, but prepare to see lots of people. We must have seen 30 rigs at the Slough Creek Parking lot at 9:00AM, including 4 huge horse trailers. Hoppers and crickets have been deadly with a few PMD's hovering the area. Didn't see much for drakes, but given the right cloud cover it would be smart to have a couple in your box... Forget about the Firehole now, water temperatures will be too hot over there until the Fall. Do some hiking and exploring and try fishing somewhere new to get away from the crowds...