CFS at Corwin | CFS at Carter's Bridge | CFS at The Lamar
Upper Yellowstone Web cam
There is some mud on the way, but today the vis at 9th street was the normal 3-4 feet. The Lamar did have a blip on the CFS chart, but it was not a major spike like last week. Check out the Yellowstone Webcam near the Devil's slide for an updated photo every two minutes. The good side is that the water temps have been below 70 degrees lately...
If the weather is bright and sunny, tie and a hopper with your favorite nymph dropper. Bead head hare's ears, copper John's, pheasant tails, rubber legs, George's brown stones, and a multi-colored bugger have all been good droppers. If the hopper fishing looks like it will be incredible, (as in there's not a cloud in the sky and the wind is blowing a bit) try throwing two hoppers, preferably something little behind something you can see.
As for catching the big ones, it seems like the Yellowstone is either on or off, and unfortunately there's not much you can do when the bite is off. Almost all the big ones that have been caught however, have been on Hoppers...
"Where have you been?!" Outfitter Eric Paulson holds a nice vibrant colored brown caught on the Yellowstone by the photogrpher, Sam Jampolis.
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
Wow. This section is starting to get pounded. It makes sense since 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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