The Yellowstone has always been a fickle river, but the last 2 weeks have been ridiculous! It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what’s to blame… the changing weather, the barometer, high winds, increased fishing pressure, less water clarity due to low elevation snow melt, (the list of excuses goes on)… Maybe the hog…
The Yellowstone has been fishing a little slow recently. Partly due to high winds and odd weather patterns, partly due to some lower elevation snow melt and less clarity than normal. There are rumors of a dirty plug coming down from the Gardiner, but as of now town is still 2 feet of visibility and…
The Yellowstone River continues to produce good midge hatches daily. Look for fish sipping single adults and mating clusters in the rivers slower seams and flats. Fish have especially been found on the down river side of structure that blocks the wind and congregates the insects. With the bright sunny days that we have been…
We have seen some midges on the spring creeks this week, and although bugs were somewhat sparse we did see a lot of fish paying attention. We observed larger fish white mouthing nymphs and actively searching for emerging midges in deep runs and buckets. The most effective patterns have been Griffith’s Gnat, CDC Hanging Midge,…
The past couple days we have diligently been casting and comparing over 30 of the latest and greatest 4-weight rods. Luckily we reserved the civic center as a backup plan again because it snowed. We tested the rods at 25′, 35′, and 60′. (We know 60′ is a little ridiculous, but it helped us figure…
Snow water equivalent for the upper Yellowstone right now is sitting at 95%. Knock on wood, but we could finally get a “normal” year. If the weather keeps up with the status quo, we should be able to fish Salmonflies on the Yellowstone the last week of June. What about mothers’s day caddis? Some people…
Sorry for the delayed reports, we have been busy working hard on the 4 weight shootout lately. Since the Yellowstone has been free from ice for a while, we decided to float last Sunday. Hank was the only one to get fish. A couple decent browns, but he definitely let me know we should…
Midges continue to be the main food source out on the creeks. The biggest issue has been the wind blowing them off the water as soon as their emergence begins. When the dry fly fishing slows down, we’ve been fishing with size 18 grey/olive scuds as well as a bighorn style pink sow bug (which…
We’ve actually had some good dry fly fishing the past few days. Low hanging clouds and no wind have been the main contributing factors. The midges above (near Mallard’s Rest) starting coming off thick around 10:30 or 11:00AM. The active fish were holding in slow deep tailouts, soft, slow edges, eddies, and near slow flowing…