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Last Updated: 10/30/2009 by James Anderson

The Stone | Spring Creeks | Yellowstone Park | Guide Services

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

Yellowstone River

The river is pretty low right now (1,660 CFS), which means you have a good shot at predicting big brown holding water...

Surprise, surprise, there's a hazardous weather outlook for a southwest wind of 34 mph with gusts as high as 45 mph. Halloween looks like gusts up to 55, but who knows the weather man hasn't exactly been batting over 300 lately. Unless you have arms of steel, you better think about floating Sunday instead - West wind around 11 mph. Chuck streamers if you're going after a big brown, otherwise small nymphs for the bows and cuts. I'd forget about the parachute adams until the wind dies down...

Truth be known, you have to put some time in if you want to catch a big brown on the Stone this time of year. The good news is that not many people are up for battling the wind and weather, so the fish that are there have been willing to chase. For whatever reason, morning seems to be fishing better than the afternoon for us. Get out there and get to know the river a little better - you'll get a good view of some deeper holding water for next summer when the water is higher again. Bring a thermos of hot chocolate and a little butterscotch to warm you up. I'd pick a shorter float so you can get out and fish the tailouts without flying through them too fast.

Small nymphs have been the fish finders on most days, especially windy days. Beatis have been coming off steadily and when the wind lets up we've seen some good risers. Mostly rainbows one the dries and beadheads. Browns have been eating streamers. Try a mix of colors, but when in doubt always bet on black... Town floated well for us yesterday. We had to battle some serious wind but boated 6 nice browns and bows and lost two BIG browns on streamers.

John Bubnikovich and Brian Sienkowski with a toad

The Yellowstone has been fishing well this week. The cold weather and overcast days have provide great opportunities for both streamer fishing and nymphing. Unless you're going for a monster, nymphing seems to be the most effective way to fish right now. If you still want to chuck and duck you can dead drift a streamer under an indicator with a beadhead dropper behind it. Look for BWO's to come off during the warm, cloudy parts of the day.

Winter like conditions have kept most people off the river, but to those who are willing to brave the storm (and slow parts of the day), there are definitely big fish opportunities at stake. Try a black or dark olive sculpin with a dropper and you should be in the game. Look for browns starting to show up in the tailouts and side channels, especially those where most people wouldn't bother going...

Fall baetis have arrived, although the window to catch big fish on dries is pretty limited. If you have to go 1/2 day, I'd definitely take the latter 1/2 of the day, Seems like the bite has been decent around 2:00- 3:30. Try to get your streamers moving the second they hit the water, as the big browns will expect something that size to be peeling rubber. I'd make sure you throw black for at least a little while. The sculpins are starting to get dark again. Looks like good cloud cover for the weekend, but plan on layering up...

It was an August like September, but so far October has felt a lot like November. The colder weather looks like it is going to stay around a while, which means more snow but good fishing conditions. You're not going to go out and kill em numbers wise, so you might as well focus on quality. Streamers are a good way to go if you are looking for a monster, but more fish have been caught on dead drifted buggers and small nymph droppers. Keep an eye out for baetis as we can have very good dry fly fishing in October. For now a size 16-18 parachute adams is perfect, once they been caught on that you might bring a few sparkle duns or baetis emergers...

RECOMMENDED FLIES

White Home Invader #2

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

Rubber Leg prince #14-16

Beadhead Prince #14-18

Beadhead Pheasant tails #14-18

JJ Special #2-6

Parachute Adams #12-18

Harrop Sparkle Dun #16-20

Harrop Baetis Emerger #16-20

Hi Vis Elk Hair Caddis #12-16

October Caddis #10-12

Lime Trude#16-18

Rag Sculpin #2-4

Egg Sucking Rag Sculpin #2-4

Whitlock Sculpin (black/white) #4

Articulated Streamers #2-4

Spring Creeks

Fall baetis have comenced, they best window starting around 10:00 and lasting until a little after 2:00. A lot of fish have been feeding on midges in the morning, although you can get a fish to take a streamer pretty easily this time of year with a little twitching finesse. With less angling pressure, a legit shot of a beautiful 20 inch trout has just gone up. Rates are still $75 until Oct. 15th, when they switch to the $40 winter rate.

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

Look for midges in the morning, with possible baetis from 10:00 until 2:00. For nymphs look a scuds, midge larva patterns, sawyer pt's, spring creek leeches, and smaller buggers. Sight fishing can be great with nymphs on brighter days, when fish are less likely to snap at a dry. You might as well chuck something nasty before you leave because you never know where the 28 incher is sitting - go big before you go home.

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Harrop's Baetis Sparkle Dun #18-20
Harrop's Baetis short wing emerger #18-20

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

Wollum's Baetis 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

Barr's Meat Whistle (brown) #4

Local & Private Lakes

John Bubnikovich with a line burning rainbow. Photo: Robert K.

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, are the standards to have in your lake box. This time of year however, it is hard not to throw streamers. Some of our biggest fish this time of year have been caught on damsel nymphs. We'll fish lakes until about the end of October, after that it's pretty much picking on false spawners.