We have been getting quite a few calls and emails about the Yellowstone River oil spill over the past few days. The spill happened a long way down river from us here in Livingston, just outside of Billings, almost a two drive down river. The productive areas for trout fishing were not affected at all from this spill. The section of river that was affected is predominately a warmwater fishery. While an event of this magnitude is never good, we are very lucky that it had no impact on the Yellowstone River trout fishery.
The Yellowstone is still very high and off color and is dropping and clearing at a snails pace. The Salmonflies are out on the river thru town, hopefully the fish are fattening up sub surface on these big morsels, so once we do get a chance to fish, the fish are fat and happy.
The big bugs are also out on the Madison up to about Cameron, the river is on the drop and a few of are guides are doing pretty well on nymphs. We expect the dry fly fishing to pick up this and at the latest by early next week. The Madison will be a great option here starting next week for folks looking to book float trips.
The spring creeks continue to fish phenomenally as the Pale Morning Dun emergence remains strong. The spinner falls have been particularly enticing to the fish as of late.
The Yellowstone Park waters in general remain high, with some areas fishing well. The Gibbon, Madison and Firehole Rivers are fishing the most consistently. PMD’s and caddis are producing the most fish here.