Back on the Stone, we've had several stellar "Green is Good" reports. Fear not local anglers and fellow conclavers, your baby is back and looking good! Water temps are lower, fish are happy, and the weeds are gone... Nymph or throw streamers in the morning, then switch to a hopper around 10:00. If you go low, you'll still be in a little mud, so try fishing something black...

Clarity of the Yellowstone at 9th Street bridge (7/31/07)

How's the upcoming week look?

CFS on the Lamar (over the last 31 days) for 7/31/07

Unless we get another major move above the Lamar Valley in the Park, it looks like the coast is clear. The Rivers have been dropping quickly and have already entered into the "Green is Good" cycle the Stone is so famous for.

What makes the Yellowstone so good when it is green?

The biggest factor is that the fish have been rested for 2-3 days; in this 4-5 days since their were two big spikes (see Lamar chart above). A few pleasure floaters have been floating the Stone, but other than that the fish haven't seen a boat or a fly in days. The fish in general seem to be hungrier as well, or at least more inclined to eat.

It is debatable if fish stay in a full on feeding mode when the river gets muddy. During Spring runoff when the river comes up several feet they say there is tons of food in the water and that fish actually feed harder than other times. From personal experience I wish I could say we always catch fish in the mud, but the unfortunately many our our mud missions resulted in a goose egg, "0."

The one advantage of floating or wading in the mud is that the fish can't see you coming. They can't see the shadow of the boat, nor can they see you standing on the bank. This means an angler or guide who can read the water well can put put fly into some likely spots.

The disadvantage obviously, is that the fish cannot see your fly as well. If you are floating a stretch that looks less than gin, try tying on a black hopper, like a size 8 Black BLT. This will show up on the surface better than a tan Grand or Chubby. And that trick seems to work for your nymphs and buggers too. Try a size 14 Black Copper John or a Black Lead Eye instead of your usually favorite patterns. Or, if you like to tie your own, tie your favorite hopper, nymph, or streamer in black. Don't be afraid to use heavier tippet either, I typically bump mine up 2 or 3 sizes depending on clarity.

CFS for at Corwin Springs over a 31 day period (7/31/07)

What section should we fish?

This is a question we hear a lot. If you give us a call, we'll suggest a few floats that match what you're looking for. For now, here are a few of our favorite floats and how they've been fishing in general this summer...

McConnell to Joe Brown

If you are after more numbers than size, try floating above Yankee Jim or from Carbella to Emigrant. Up here a Turk's or BLT hopper has been deadly. No need to nymph up here (although go for it if you want to - there are not as many whitefish above Yankee Jim and those cutthroats are a real sucker for attractor beadhead patterns). Since there are a few wave trains in this section, it is best to have at least one experienced rower in the group.

Carbella to Emigrant

If you don't feel like rowing above the canyon and want to primarily or entirely with dries, than this section is a good pick. The fish tend to pod up in this section, so if you find a group of rising fish it would be a good idea to drop anchor. This section of the river does have a lot of whitefish, so putting on a beadhead dropper is just asking for a rubber lips. For more trout, stick with a hopper and a small dry dropper, preferably something visible like a hi-vis ant, trude, humpy, H & L variant, hi-vis parachute adams, hot wing elk hair, ect.

Grey Owl to Mallard's

The "Bird Float" as the locals call it, has been fishing quite solid this week. To begin with, it has a good fish count, plus the added bonus of a few big browns as well. On bright days, a white zonker has been known to wreak havoc on big fish. Hoppers would be a good way to get them as well - but be sure to throw in a couple stack mends to get a longer dead drift. The down side to getting too much slack in your line is missing the strike, so try to find that happy medium of a perfect drift and a tight line.

Mallard's to Carter's

This section has been relatively slow this year, (unless you happen to be one of the first boats down the bank). The guys who have been doing well in the afternoon are stopping the boat, getting out, and fishing the many riffles by foot. While this technique takes more effort, it is far more effective fishing, as an angler gets 10-12 good casts in the faster oxygenated water rather than just one quick cast as the boat floats by. Midnight stones are around still, so try a brown or golden stone nymph off of your hopper.

Carter's to 89

The float through town this year has been a happy medium of numbers and size - that is to say you can catch quite a few fish, and some of them might be in the 18-22 range. It seems the fish start feeding more frequently around 10:00, so even if you can't make it out early it is still a good idea to get a quick float in before 2:00. After noon, be sure to switch to some kind of hopper rig, as we're finally starting to see some of the bigger fish get caught - so far all on hoppers.

"Down Low" (89 to Columbus)

Typically Down Low is big fish water, but recently there has been some weeds. This isn't a problem for fishing dries and hoppers, but the weeds definitely make it harder for nymph fishing or jigging a streamer. The fish are there, but you have to be patient, and realize that you aren't going to catch a big fish every time you float Down Low. You might get skunked, you might catch some smaller rainbows, you might hook up with a 23 inch brown... One thing is for sure, unless you are insanely lucky, you won't catch the big ones without a lot of effort and time - but that's the trade off for big fish. If it was easy to catch the big ones, I don't think it would be nearly as much fun. As they say, that's fish'en...

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