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Last Updated: 5/1/2009 by James Anderson

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

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

Yellowstone River

Shop manager Doug Mcknight at it again... Photo: James Anderson

Click here for our 2009 Mother's Day Caddis Hatch Blog

The fishing on the Yellowstone is really starting to heat up. Today we had reports of baetis but also copious amounts of March Browns. The fish were really keying in on the March browns, and ignoring the baetis, so be sure to have a few of these large brown mayflies in your box. No caddis yet, but they are just around the corner and could pop any day now...

The streamer bite has also been on this past week. Some dandies have made it into the net, the largest a 24" brown with senior guide Bob Bergquist. White or light colored streamers have been working best for us, with an olive streamer as your dropper. Get cha some! If you want to share a photo for our Big Fish Montana 2009 please drop me an e-mail. Check out our Mother's Day Caddis Hatch blog for more current fishing information.

HATCHES

Most of the caddis are still in their cases, but in certain places we've been seeing them show up early. I was fishing below DePuy's on Tuesday night and saw about 25 caddis skittering about. I took a water temperature and to my surprise it was 54°F. We'll keep you posted on this hatch as usual, but it looks like the colder weather this weekend will be shutting them down for at least a little while. In the meanwhile, feel free to check out past years caddis archives. If you like throwing streamers, the week before caddis begins again (right now) is fishing well. Fish are finally back out of their deep holes and chasing streamers on the banks. If you're after some dry fly action, you'd have best luck with baetis or midges and a chance of seeing some larger march browns.

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Baetis dries and emergers #18

March Brown dries #14

Elk Hair Caddis #12-16 (coming soon!)

Hi-vis Elk Hair Caddis #12-16 (coming soon!)

Hemingway Caddis #14-16 (coming soon!)

Henryville Caddis #14-16 (coming soon!)

Goddard Caddis #12-16 (coming soon!)

Butch Caddis #14-16 (coming soon!)

Lafontaine's Caddis Pupa #14-16 (coming soon!)

Harrop's Fertile Caddis #14-16 (coming soon!)

Peeking Caddis #14-16 (coming soon!)

Beadhead hare's ear #14-16

Black and coffee rubber legs #4-8

Black Yuk bug #8

Black Sex Dungeon #2

Black leadeye buggers #2-4

Bow River Buggers #4-6

Black Woolhead sculpin #2

Black Sculpzilla #4

Black Circus Peanut #2

Double Bunnies #2-4

White Home Invader #2

White Zonkers #2-4

JJ Specials #4

Spring Creeks

New stream reclamation on Nelson's Spring Creek promises to

provide better fishing and more fishable water for 2009.

Article and Photos by George Anderson

Nelson’s Spring Creek, seven miles South of Livingston has always had the reputation as one of the finest true Spring Creeks in the US. But even the best spring creeks are prone to siltation over the years, which decrease water depth, providing fewer places for trout to hide. The silt also dramatically decreases the amount of insect life, like the intense mayfly hatches that have made these streams so famous.

Now that these streams are protected by rock rip-rap along the Yellowstone they no longer get periodic flushing flows from the Yellowstone River have helped to blow all this silt out. Of course those years that the Yellowstone flooded into the spring creeks caused a huge amount of damage and even threatened to wipe out the spring creeks altogether. Good, well designed rip-rap projects and levees have helped to contain the river but now this siltation, caused mostly by waterfowl in the winter, has threatened these wonderful streams and if nothing was done, the quality of fishing would continue to decline.

Continue George's article...

If you're fishing the creeks this week, try to pick an overcast day with less wind. You should see a nice baetis hatch throughout the middle of the day with plenty of trout snouts feeding through the different stages of the hatch. If you're stuck with a brighter day, focus on site fishing with small nymphs, being sure to adjust your weight for each run. A miracle nymph, olive midge larva, or sparkle scud would all be good bright day flies. On bright days you can also stay late and fish the evening with a small streamer or sculpin before calling it quits.

Please watch out for the redds, as we need as many new wild trout returning to the Yellowstone as possible.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Armstrong's Spring Creek

DePuy's Spring Creek

Nelson's Spring Creek

Thoughts on fishing redds

What do redds look like?

HATCHES

The baetis have finally been stating to come off, but not in huge numbers. If you get a nice non-windy cloudy day (keep those fingers crossed with Livingston) the possibility for an epic day is certainly there. Otherwise you'll probably get as much action on your midge dropper as your baetis dry if not more. Flip over some rocks and see what's under them. You'll see how many baetis nymphs are around, plus a bunch of olive/grey scuds, leeches, stoneflies, and cranefly larva. Don't forget to bring some eggs as your ace up the sleeve.

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Black Zebra midges #18

Olive midge larva #18

Dave Student midge emergers #18-20

René Harrop Light Grey CDC Midge Emerger #20

René Harrop Grey CDC Adult Midge #20

René Harrop Grey CDC Hanging Midge #20

René Harrop's baetis no hackle #18-20

René Harrop's baetis sparkle dun #18-20

Dave Student's thin olive baetis #16-18

Tan (grey) Sparkle scuds #18

Olive Sparkle scuds #18

Pink Sparkle scuds #18

Red Mini San Juan Worm #16-18

Otter's Soft Milk Eggs #14

Orange Ray Charles #18

Bighorn sow bugs #18

Black leadeye buggers #6

Bow River Buggers #6-8

Rag Sculpins #4

Pig Pen Leeches #8

Brown Home Invader #6

Local & Private Lakes

"Catching fish like this never gets old." - Doug McKnight

Photo: shop manager Robert Kovich

So what happens if your favorite local river blows out and you have the day off to fish? Let us send you off to one of the local or private lakes we fish. The spring is one of the best times to target big fish. The ice is off and unsuspecting hogs are cruising the shallows for food. This time of year can be outstanding sight fishing, as many of these fish haven't seen flies in months. 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 learning some new stillwater techniques could prove useful back home. A lot of our clients will pass 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 exclusively fish lakes, forgetting about our blue ribbon rivers altogether!

Give us a call or stop by the shop for the inside scoop. We've been fishing more and more lakes that don't necessarily need to be advertised on the web. Stop by and we can set you up with a couple hot flies and send you on your way to lunkerville...

HATCHES

Midges, Callibaetis, Damsels, leeches, dragon fly nymphs, scuds, and snails should cover you. Since most Montana lakes will get similar hatches, it is wise to come up with a "lake box" so you'll be prepared for everything. In the early season (late April through Mid May) you'll see more midges and Callibaetis than anything. Chironomids and zebra midges work well for the midges. For Callibaetis, make sure you have some nymphs and duns, but whatever you do, don't forget the spinners. Harrop ties the most impressive spinners that we carry if you want to pick one up for a fly tying reference. During May and June the damsels take off. We've caught many big browns on damsel nymphs. John Barr's damsel has been one of our favorite patterns for big fish. The Leeches, scuds, and snails will work well for you year round.