We fished the Yellowstone River today up at Carbela to 26 mile. It was a successful day for father and son Todd and Kyle who had never fished from a drift boat before. We really concentrated on the dry fly today and got them to eat it after the breeze died a bit.
It was very hot (93 degrees) and windy but they ate the small Chubby Chernoble and later in the day the also ate a small CDC Prince trailer.
We also had one of our guides fish near Big Timber and had a solid fishing day mostly on the dry as well.
Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted.
We fished the Yellowstone River today and fished from Emigrant to Loch Leven. Fishing was definitely spotty but we did have good dry fly fishing from 11AM to 1PM and then the wind picked up and we had to go to the nymph.
The single CDC Prince in size 10 lit up for us for the last couple hours.
Fishing is a bit tough when the wind picks up but stay with it and you’ll get the trout in the right spots.
We fished the upper Yellowstone River today. The fishing was spotty but we had good fishing on golden stone and salmonfly dries in spots. The 20 minutes of hail, rain and lightning didn’t help us at noon, but aftewards the fishing picked up.
Montana is truely one of the few places where if you wait 10 minutes the weather can completely change!
Doing it again tomorrow so we’ll keep you posted – remember if you don’t go you won’t know!
Summary:
We’ve been chasing Salmonflies on the Yellowstone River and the switched gears and have been on the spring creeks of Armstrong’s and DePuy’s for the past couple days. Fishing has been great overall. The Yellowstone has fished well when the warmer weather has showed up and gets the big bugs moving. Spring Creeks have been pretty steady, but you have to really work those selective fish!
Hatches:
Yellowstone: you name it – Salmonflies, Golden Stones, Yellow Sallies, Mocha Caddis, Summer Caddis, Green Drakes & PMDs.
Spring Creeks: Midges in the morning and evening, PMD Spinners in the mornings/evenings and Adults between 9am and 2pm
Weather & Water Conditions:
Great weather, with some occasional afternoon thunderstorms. Always, Always bring your rain jacket and an extra warm layer!
Best Technique:
Yellowstone – Single big try flies in tight to the bank or on the softer seams. Big bead heads in the right riffle corners are also producing some good fish.
Spring Creeks – 9 to 12 foot leaders to 6x with a morning PMD nymph rig dropped with a midge pupa or a PMD spinner, then a single dry for the meat of the hatch.
Best Bugs:
Yellowstone – Mystery Meat Salmonfly (sz 6) or Chubby Chernobyl Golden Stone (sz 6-8) drop a size 10 BH Prince in the right spots and you’ll also pick up some trout – but be careful the whitefish bite is epic on the upper river right now.
Spring Creeks – Slightly weighted Pheasant Tail (sz 18-20), Zebra midge (sz 20), PMD No Hackle (sz 16), Rusty Spinner (sz 18).
Those of you planning an early July trip might just be in luck this year. The
Yellowstone River is dropping fast and starting to show signs of clearing up. The bottom appears to have dropped out of the
Lamar River which is currently running at 2,750 cfs and is one of the major sources of mud for the Yellowstone. The river in Livingston is running at 11,500 cfs, and the water is just starting to change from a dirty brown to a green hugh with about 4-6 inches of visibility. If this trend continues it has the makings for some good clear water
salmon fly action! Keep you fingers crossed and we’ll keep you updated.
USDA 2010 Hopper Prediction
We thought we’d re-post this article again as it’s gotten a lot of attention from all those anglers looking forward to their late July and August fishing trips. So here it is again…
Original Post from May:
Great news for those planning your Montana fly fishing trip for late July and August. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just reported that this summer is in for a severe grasshopper infestation. Charles Brown of the USDA stated that based on recent federal surveys many western states, including Montana, may see the most severe hopper outbreaks in the last 30 years. See image.
The Yellowstone River runs through some of the prime ranch land in Montana near Paradise Valley and toward the eastern plains. The ranch land bordering the river are mostly hay fields where hoppers can grow prolifically in both size and numbers. A perfect August hopper fishing day would include temperatures in the 80’s, a 10 to 15 mph downstream breeze and a sunny day. The heat gets those hoppers moving and the breeze knocks them into the water, where trout eagerly wait for their afternoon meal. Some of the best hopper fishing on the Yellowstone River occurs east of Livingston where the bigger Rainbow and Brown trout reside.
So while ranchers and farmers prepare for the massive infestation, fly fishers should rejoice and make sure to tie up some Chaos Hoppers and Chubby Chernobyl’s. There’s only one catch you have to be in Montana this summer to fully appreciate it!
