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Last Updated: 7/31/2009 by James Anderson

The Stone | Spring Creeks | Yellowstone Park | Guide Services

Local & Private Lakes | Madison River | CFS @ Carter's

Yellowstone River

Tom Jewett with one of several nice browns he caught today

(7/31) The Yellowstone was fishing hot today. We floated the town section and easily put over 20 fish in the boat. It was a good mix of numbers and size. In the morning rain we fished streamers and nymphs, but as soon as the sun came out we were fishing hoppers. We spooked Troutzilla today - a humongous brown that was in the 25 - 28 inch range. We almost hit it with the oar blade when pulling in to re-rig and he blasted a u-turn down stream with a wake that looked like Hank Bechard wake boarding. We hooked up to lots of nice fish on the chubby, many were holding tight with a few off the bank in the foam lines. Hopefully tomorrow fishes just as well...

Matt Christian with a burley afterwork brown. The beast shook off

at the last second, but Matt jumped in river and snatched him up

like an osprey before he could get away! Photo: D. Holiway

(7/30) Floated up high yesterday and there was over two and a half feet of vis above Yankee Jim. The fish were crushing hoppers and small golden stone beadhead nymphs. It was amazing how fast the mud moved through. Unless your floating way down low, it looks like the plug is gone. We must have seen 500 hoppers in the grass up there, and even saw three naturals in the water. D. Holiway and Mathew Christian went fishing in town afterwork yesterday (despite the recent mud) and caught 4 big browns. Looks like things are turning around quickly over this way!

Guide James Anderson with a fat brown caught by Howard Guja.

The fish pinned a hopper and exploded off the rocks down stream.

(7/28) The river through town today looked like chocolate milk. Lots of guys headed down low to beat the mud and the hopper fishing was actually pretty good in the afternoon. The morning was better on dead drifted sculpin and nymphs. Tomorrow looks iffy over this way, but give us a ring in the morning (open at 7:00) for a mud report. Otherwise it looks like the Maddy may get a little crowded...

(7/27) Looks like a mini spike on the Gardner tonight, and also a small spike on the CFS charts at Corwin Springs. As long as your not planning to float up high or in the valley tomorrow, the river should fish well on streamers and nymphs, or hoppers if the sun sticks around in the afternoon.

Mike Mclean and Outfitter Brian Sienkowski with a hefty brown

(7/26) The clarity is still in good shape despite the recent rains and the Yellowstone has fished very well the last two days. The fish have been happy and eating dries all over the river, including some bigger browns.

Where have you been hiding all day!? Kevin Mead hoists up

a nice brown just before the 9th street pullout.

(7/24) The trout bite was a little sluggish today. I don't know if it had anything to do with being on the edge of a front or not, but it didn't stop the whitefish from attacking with a vengeance. All species were hanging out in fairly deep water, about 4-5 feet or more. Beadheads, Rubberlegs, Cone stones, brownstones, and streamers produced better than hoppers and caddis dries. The river is still ripping along and many places that normally fish well were too fast for fish. The slow, deep, foam covered water with a tiny bit of chop was where we pulled most of our fish. If you're not hitting bottom every now and then, better add a split shot! Give the shop a ring if you're heading up high tomorrow, it looks like there's a sever strom warning in the Lamar Valley tonight...

Tyler Tasci with a good looking brown from down low

(7/22) The water levels down low are still very high and the currents are strong and squirrely. Even though it is below 7,000 CFS, the Stone is still a big river down here... A lot of the prime real estate holding water is hard to come by but as the river drops over the next couple of weeks, things should shape up nicely. Big bugs under an indicator produced the best for us. Dead drifting a streamer seemed to do the trick, but we caught most of our fish on a beadhead dropper or rubberlegs. We did have a 20+ inch brown come up and inspect our hopper but refused it - even with a perfect drift.

Jason Volk lynched this nice brown in with a Bow River Bugger.

(7/20) We floated Pine to 9. I was happy to see no rigs in the parking lot, even as late as 10:30AM. We ripped big streamers though some good looking spots but the fish either weren't there or weren't interested. We landed a couple on streamers, but by far our best action was by throwing junk. Big beadheads and rubberlegs. Pat's rubber legs and a George's brown stone were going head to head, with a big beadhead prince coming in a close third. Reports from the valley have been similar. For streamers, I'd have to give it to the Bow river bugger, and a small black leadeye. The fish were deep, so bring along a sink tip or some split shot. I've been using that Orvis sink putty which works well.

Double trouble! Charlie Fernandez with the daily double...

(7/17) We floated up high again on Thursday. We saw only a few goldens and only one salmonfly, but plenty of yellow sallies and caddis were around. The fish were crushing the dries, especially a small dropper like a size 14 trude or stimi. I won't lie to you, some of the fish were so small we couldn't even hook them, but the action was so steady that it kept things fun. We also got quite a few hits on goldenstone dries and even salmonfly dries, although if you want to hit the big bugs, you have to hike into the Park now. Water clarity up there was great, at least 2 and a half feet or more of green vis. We tried streamers and nymphs for a while, but actually did best on dries. We even caught a couple on hoppers - there were a TON of hoppers in the grass up there already. Guides have been floating the bird and doing well on big nymphs. Though town has been hot with streamers for those who can rip 'em...

Carl Hiaasen holds up a lone salmonfly for the camera.

The salmonflies have now made it deep into the Park, which means you have to be in pretty good shape to fish this hatch. Plan on long, steep hikes where you take one step up and slide two steps back. It would be smart to stash a jug of water behind a tree on the way down, because it will be tough to bring enough water for your climb out. Unless your completely addicted to salmonfly fever, you can probably count the number of times you'll hit the salmonflies in the Park on one hand. It makes for an epic adventure and a great photo mission.

Fish On! Jack Lindstead reels one in near La Duke Hot Springs. The fish were on Yellow Sallies but we got a few to eat big bugs.

(7/14) We floated up high last Tuesday and the visibility was fine. The Gardner was back to jet clear and the stone was close to two feet of vis. We saw a bunch of goldenstones up there, tons of yellow sallies, and a few salmonflies still in the willows. Jason Volk and Jack Lindstead were tearing them up on black stone fly nymphs about 5 feet off the bank and 3-4 feet deep. Charlie and I got 'em by throwing dries tight to the willows. I'd say our hook up rate was 50/50 between the big bugs and our yellow sally droppers. We pulled out at Brogan's Landing before noon and then hiked into the park to cut the salmonflies off at the pass.

Charlie Eubank with a nice one caught on a yellow sally dropper.

The Park was awesome. I think everyone's calves were a little sore by the time we got back to the rig, but it was well worth the effort. The salmonflies and goldenstones were flying high in the sky when we arrived to the river. That was a relief because we weren't sure if we went up too high. The bushes close to the river were completely covered in bugs, most which had already doubled up and found a partner. Didn't see any with egg sacks however, so it was probably in the middle of the hatch... which means if you feel like getting down to the Park and catching the salmonfly hatch you still have a few days left...

The cutthroat we caught were not huge, but very plentiful. Like sharks they circled in the currents, lazily feeding on the naturals who had fallen in. These fish would crush a dry a couple times before figuring out what was wrong. Certainly these fish hadn't seen much angling pressure. They were all going nuts once you had them out of the water, as if it were the first time they'd ever been caught.

That night driving home we ran into a swarm of yellow sallies in the Canyon. It looked like a mother's day caddis hatch, with thousands of bugs backlit by the canyon sun. If you're looking for some good dry fly action, I'd head above Yankee Jim right now. This should be a great week of fishing on the Stone!

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Salmonfly Dries #2- 4

Orange Stimulators #4-6

Goldenstone Dries #4-6

Yellow Stimulators #6-12

Yellow Sallies #12-14

Royal Coachman Trude #12-16

Lime Trude #12-16

Gold wire yellow sally #14-16

Pat's rubber legs #12-14

Bead head Hare's Ear #10-14

Bead head prince #10-14

Dark Brown Elk hair Caddis #10-12

Bitch Creeks #4-6

Black Home Invader

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

Black and Silver Double Bunnies #2-4

White Home Invader #2

White Zonkers #2-4

White Conrad Sculpin #2-4

Bow river Mud pup #2

Silver Kantellya #2-4

Gold Kantellya #2-4

Missouri River

"After many drifts inches from the big brown's head he finally came up and ate a small caddis dry. The fish were very tough to hook yesterday and even harder to land, but there were plenty of targets." - Outfitter Brian Sienkowski (proving once again that even elephants eat peanuts).

The dry fly fishing has finally picked up now that the CFS has dropped. Bring your PMD and Caddis boxes plus a new spool of Seaguar GrandMax 6X (or equivalent). There are some big heads up there that can crush your ego as fast as your tippet. We recommend one of George's 12'#6X hand tied leaders for the best turn over and accuracy. Don't be afraid to use 3 or more feet of tippet when you're tying in another piece. That way you can switch flies a handful of times and still have a reasonably long tippet. If it gets less than a foot and a half clip it. You'll get a much better drift with a longer tippet.

Rick Allen and Dave Bryan with a nice MO bow.

If you happen to be on the river early in the morning, keep your eye out of Tricos - their emergence is just around the corner. When the tricos get going this river is going to explode with great sight fishing to BIG fish. Find the pods or some big singles before you start casting. Time it so that your presentation is in synch with the natural rising rhythm of the fish you're working. Once you hook him, take it easy on him and try to peel him off the pod without creating too much havoc. That way you can work the pod for a while!

Harrop ties some of the best trico duns and hen wing spinners we've ever seen. Very sparse and realistic - tied in both male and female colors plus a super sticky hook. And don't forget about caddis. If you can swing it without being late for dinner, try to catch the evening caddis hatch you head home. It makes for a long day, but some of the best fishing has been right up until dark. For this type of tailwater caddis fishing we like fishing a Hemingway Caddis or a Henryville. If you tie yourself, you might want to make a darker version that will show up in the reflection as a silhouette near dusk.

Spring Creeks

PMD spinners have been showing up a little after 5:00 PM.

As for the Duns, look to start fishing dries around 10:00 or so...

There have been thick emergences of PMD's on all of the Paradise Valley creeks. Sparkle Duns, Compara Duns, harrop short wing emergers, PMD nymphs, and spent spinners were all working for us. Bring a couple small hoppers because the grass next to the creek is loaded with them. There were some small midges in the morning before 10:00, but the fish quickly started taking dries. Bring your 6X for sure, the many micro currents will require some tiny tippet. Even if you fish a larger hopper, 6X will get you a much better drift. Midge larva droppers were good above the spring at Armstrongs. As long as the wind doesn't pick up, you can have great dry fly fishing up until dark. We've even seen a few sulphurs in the evening already! Things are starting to get busier over here, so call us before head out...

A nice rainbow caught on a PMD Compara Dun

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

The PMD's are here! We saw at least 2 dozen dries on Armstrong's last week and the fish were already on them. In flipping over a few rocks, PMD nymphs were crawling everywhere. We also found a ton of PMD nymphs in Matt Wilhelm's collected samples from DePuy's - which were used to show the kids at the FFF/TU kids camp last Saturday. Also found in the samplings were stone flies, caddis, midge larva, and scuds. Still, the PMD nymphs out numbered the other samples 10 to 1. Dave student's PMD nymph is one of the better commercial representations of these aquatic insects, mostly because it is sparsely tied. If you are tying these up yourself, try not to add too much material to the hook and keep it simple. For duns, a sparkle dun is a great pattern, especially if you plan to use a dropper. It will float high and can take a beating from the fish. If you have a more difficult fish that is consistently refusing your fly, try switching to one of René Harrop's PMD No Hackles. Solitude offers many Harrop patterns which work very well, but the "originals" tied by the René and his family are in a class of their own. They are truly pieces of art, and while any one of them could be shadow boxed to hang on your wall, they are made to fish. There's only a few shops in the world that carry them - lucky for us, we are one of them...

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Harrop's PMD Sparkle Dun #18

Harrop's PMD olive short wing emerger #18

Harrop's PMD half and half emerger #18

HD PMD Emerger #16-20

PMD Captive Dun#16-20

CDC PMD Transitional Dun #16-20

PMD Biot Thorax #16-20

PMD Last Chance Cripple #16-20

Angle Case PMD emerger #18

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

* Until Umpqua starts cranking these out, be extra nice to Doug!

Local & Private Lakes

Kip Guja with with a big bow caught 2 minutes into the day!

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!

Howie Guja with a line ripping rainbow that hit so hard he almost

jerked the rod into the lake. Click here for more lake photos...

HATCHES

Midges, Callibaetis, Damsels, leeches, dragon fly nymphs, scuds, and snails should cover you. Since most Montana lakes will get similar hatches, it makes sense to buy a selection of lakes flies for your lake box. In the early season (Mid May - Early June) you'll see more midges and Callibaetis than anything. Chironomids and zebra midges work well for droppers. For Callibaetis, make sure you have some flies that represent every stage of the hatch including nymphs, emergers, duns, and spent spinners. Harrop ties the most impressive spinners that we carry, but we have several other good patterns that are hard to find. Once things get a little hotter damsel nymphs will be more important than the midges or callibaetis. We've caught a lot of big browns on damsel nymphs. John Barr's damsel has been one of our favorites, also damsels with a tiny petitjean cone. The Leeches, scuds, and snails will work well for you year round.

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

Heading off to chase the big bugs? Don't forget your bug spray!

The Lamar side of the Park is finally coming into play. Slough Creek has been fishing well - but bring your bug spray, head net, and whatever else you have to deter yourself from getting carried away by the mosquitoes and deer flies. Salmonflies are now in the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Gardner is high but clear, so an angler could enjoy some good pocket water near the confluence of the Yellowstone (bring some salmonflies) or you could hit it up high with trudes and attractors looking for a brookie or two. Many of the high mountain lakes are fishing well now too. Give us a call at the shop for more info on that. The Lamar is dropping, but finally worth a look. Soda Butte and Pebble are waiting for you...

Salmon Fly Fever

Ménage à Trois? A Yellow Sally, Salmonfly, and Goldenstone get it on between McConnell and Brogan's Landing (7/14).

So what is it about Salmonflies that drive anglers towards 10 day fishing binges, lack of sleep, "arm pump" from rowing hard, tunnel vision, broken rods, profanity, speeding tickets, lucent fishing dreams, excessive drooling, and otherwise near insanity? Perhaps it is seeing a big brown rocket off the bottom and explode on your dry fly like a cherry bomb, or seeing hundreds of mini choppers hovering overhead like a scene from Apocalypse Now. Perhaps it is the chase that is more fun than the actual catch. Naw, scratch that. EVERYBODY likes catching big fish, and catching them on big dries is the icing on the cake. This incredible hatch in my mind, (and many others), is the best dry fly fishing of the year.

Give us a call at the shop for the most current details on where the hatches are and where you should go! Both the Madison and Yellowstone are fishing as well as some others! 406-222-7130.