Last Updated: 01/30/2009

The Yellowstone | Spring Creeks | Waters we fish | Guide Services

CFS @ Lamar River | CFS @ Corwin Springs | CFS @ Carter's

1/29

The Yellowstone's still running cold, but at least the slush and anchor ice is gone. Friday (mostly sunny Hi 48°F) looks like a nice day to wet a line. The weekend looks better suited for ice fishing than fly fishing, with 30-50% change of snow and temperatures ranging from 28 - 35°F. Doug and Derek ice fished Newland last weekend. They said there was a good solid 18 inches of ice to get through, so don't worry about last week's warm weather melting anything in that direction. The bite was fair but not great. It was colder than an SOB up there, with the temp hovering around 4°F. They put 5 fish on the ice, 2 bows and 3 ling.

1/24

Ouch... My fingers are still thawing out as I'm writing this. Since the cold front has moved in, the river has once again returned to a slush flowing, frozen yet slippery torture device. Ice fishing is looking much more appealing for this weekend, as temperatures have dropped well below freezing. Next week we're back into the 30's, but that's still pushing it for the Yellowstone. Your best bet for fly fishing will be the spring creeks or anywhere else that you can find warmer spring water. Don't forget your hand warmers...

1/19

Tuesday and Wednesday are calling for 53°. Not sure if I'd trust what they are saying the wind will do, but feel free to give us a ring. Try to get out early this week if you can, because it looks like we may have a snow storm rolling in by Thursday night / Friday...

1/18

They were calling for good weather this weekend, so when we met at the shop we were a little disappointed when faced with a powerful, cold wind. As James' rig rocked back and forth in the wind, we started debating what section float, or whether to float was even a good idea at that point. "What's the shortest float we could do, Loch to Mallards?" "Yeah... but that's all frozen over." Our winter fishing armada sounded great Saturday night with our hands full of beer, but when Sunday's wind rolled in, our more intelligent angling friends started dropping like flies. After getting the boat in the water, Doug, D. and reassure each other that this was going to be a good day, "Sometimes having a buddy or two opt out is good for fishing karma." "Yeah, the wind is way better down here than at the shop..."

Turns out it was a great day to float. I don't think I'd be sending any novice rowers out there anytime soon, but for guides or experienced floaters it's OK. Since the river is so low (979 CFS) certain spots like the baseball field rapids or the golf course rapids will definitely require some finesse. In these spots, the rocks are sticking up almost everywhere, waiting to take a little chunk off of your chines. Since the margin for error is about two inches, we walked the boat down in these spots. A raft would be a much better way to go, either that or you can ask your buddy if he can bring his boat, (yours is still totally full of leaves and your damn trailer lights are on the fritz).

We didn't catch a ton of fish, but the sun came out and the wind was soon forgotten. The fish of the day was Doug's morning brown, which rip on his rag Sculpin, as much as any fish could with the water temp being close to 32°. Whoever won Doug's red Serendipity flies last Thursday at the Joe Brooks / LEF meeting should put them to work right away because they were our hottest fly. Depending on the depth of the run you'll want at least one size B split shot, and in many cases two. Long, slow drifts were the name of the game. The trick was adding plenty of mends but still being tight enough to powerset downstream upon the slightest tremble of your indicator. The bite was off in the afternoon, so we anchored up to take a look. We found midges, baetis nymphs, a few salmonflies and some big fat sculpin...

Uh oh, looks like someone's not too happy about being caught...

Freshwater sculpin are by far some of the coolest fish in the river. There are over 300 species of sculpin in the world, but only 5 species are found here in Montana. You can find Shortheads, Slimy Sculpin, Torrents, and Spoonheads west of the continental divide, especially near the Kootenai and Glacier National Park. The Mottled Sculpin, or Cottus bairdi are what you'll find in most of the rivers we fish, including the Yellowstone. All freshwater sculpin are spring spawners, noted by there darkened color. On the Yellowstone it looks as though some of the sculpin have already started this process, as we found one enormous sculpin who looked like he had just slipped on a batman suit. If the river stays open, keep a black leadeye in mind, or even bust out a black sharpie and darken your rag sculpins.

1/15

This weekend is looking great for fishing the spring creeks. We have weather close to the 50's which means there a good chance of seeing some midge dry fly fishing. Don't get your hopes up for baetis, they won't start hatching until the middle or end of February. Some of our favorite midge patterns for the creeks include Harrop's Hanging Midge, Student's midge emerger, Griffith's Gnats, Harrop's Light Grey CDC Midge Emerger, and any of your favorite larvae or pupa patterns. Bring your sparkle scuds too, as there are still going strong. This weekend looks sunny, which typically isn't good for small streamer fishing, but you never know...

1/13

A rainbow trout near La Duke Hot Springs for a Home Invader.

Wow, what a day. The sun felt good and the wind was dead calm up river from 12:00 - 2:00. My first fish was an 8 inch whitie that attacked one of Johnny Boyd's size 2 Ultra Yuk Bugs. I'll take it, I remember thinking after a long dry spell on the stone. Lots of bugs up there, probably due to the warmer water spilling in from the various springs. I found another salmonfly nymph hiding, some big rock caddis, a bunch of tiny baetis, midges, and from what I could tell, a big green drake nymph. I saw 2 solid rises, but I thought I'd try one of Doug's brown Home Invaders. Good call, I saw two rainbows clobber it before I had to head home.

1/11

James Warren kicks back on a Yellowstone sand bar and takes a

sip of Maté while waiting for ducks to fly over our decoys.

James and I decided to get up early again, this time we floated from 89 to Sheep Mountain. It was one of those days where you didn't shoot or catch a thing, but felt great when you looked up and saw those familiar montana mountains in the distance. We live in a beautiful state, that's for sure. We saw one tiny pocket knife sized rainbow rise to a midge, but other than him we didn't see or catch squat. There were a lot of ducks in the air, most of which were golden eyes. We saw a few mergansers, mallards and a gander of high flying geese with a low flying trailer. Must have been a cripple. I hate to see that - it makes me think that spending the extra dough on tungsten shot is worth biting the bullet. Both the put in at 89 and pull out at sheep were open of ice. That could change, so be sure to take a look when you shuttle your rig, but with the temps hitting the high 40's this weekend, you should be safe.

1/10

Mr. Warren and I got up early looking for birds down low. We saw a bunch of buffle heads, geese, mergansers, and a few mallards. I walked a few banks with my eyes on the lookout for trout, but I didn't see anything. The river is really clear right now, you can see a good 3-4 feet deep, and can even pick out sticks and rock shelves along the bottom. The ice jam near the buffalo hump is starting to melt through in the middle, still a no go.

1/9

Obviously ice comes and goes through out the winter, but right now 89 to Sheep looks awesome for floating. There is virtually no ice at the put in and pull out, and the drive along convict grade shows an open river. I saw a few trout rising to midges below 89, I think the fact that there was no wind was a help. I'm sure most of these fish haven't seen a fly in a long time... we might have change that.

1/8

Don't bother trying to put in or pull out at either East End or Springdale anytime soon. East End's bank is covered with a good 5 foot ice wall, and the river near Springdale is almost completely frozen over. I didn't bother driving to Grey bear, but I would assume you'd find similar ice problems. Pig farm looked safe from the HWY, but I didn't check the pullout, it would probably be smarter to play it safe and pull out at Sheep Mountain.

1/7

The bottom end of Fleshman Creek is open and a few degrees warmer than the Yellowstone. Mace dog and I went down there to check things out but we didn't see any fish. Flipped a few rocks and found a few of the usual suspects, baetis nymphs, midge larva, empty caddis cases, and a sculpin or two. We didn't find any stone flies which surprised me.

1/6

I think a couple guys could float the river from 89 to Sheep if they wanted to right now, the question is weather it would be worth it or not. If you have shotguns and a strong swimming hunting dog, the answer is probably yes. There is some slush and ice to watch out for, so be smart if you decide to get adventurous. The shield's is almost completely frozen over, aside from a few small openings. The Yellowstone is looking open through town, but jammed up at east end and Springdale. I haven't seen Mallard's in a while, but the river usually gets ice jams there too.

1/4

Kelly Craig with a monster late season bull. photo: Butch Craig

I know this isn't exactly a fishing photo, but I thought you all might like to see where our custom tied elk hair caddis are coming from for 2009. Typically, cow hydes make for better flies than big bulls, but wouldn't it be cool to catch a 24 inch brown on a fly tied from a late season 6 x 7? Nice work Kelly!

1/3

The temperatures this week have been decent, but the wind has been brutal. There's a hazardous weather outlook for today and tonight, calling for gusts up to 70 mph! The outlook for this week is a bit calmer, but we're still looking at gusts up to 40 through Wednesday. I'm thinking it's a good week to rent some 5 day movies and tie some flies. If you'd rather be on the ice, the reservoirs around White Sulphur are only calling for winds up to 21 mph.

1/1

I flipped over a few rocks down by 9th street today. I didn't find nearly as many bugs as I did a month ago. There were some baetis nymphs crawling around, a few empty caddis cases, and some kind of isopod with suction cups. No sculpin or stone flies found this round. Tomorrow looks like a good day to fish the creeks if you have the day off. Nice temperature and not too much wind. It looks like things could get colder this weekend and early next week...

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