Fishing in Yellowstone

[kazpilot25]

I'm taking the family up to Yellowstone National Park next weekend and will be trying my hand at fly fishing for the first time. It will be the opening week of the Firehole River and I couldn't be more excited. That being said, I know nothing about fly fishing and even less about fishing the Firehole. Does anybody have some experience they can share with me? Maybe some flies that may be useful this time of year? I went out and got a nice rod/reel setup from Cabelas yesterday, but the guys in the fly shop there had no tips for me when it comes to Yellowstone.

[scoutm]

Get a guide for at least a half day. You will learn more about the river, how to cast, how to mend your line and fly choices in a few hours with a guide than fishing on your own for days and you will avoid a lot of wasted time and mistakes. At the end of the day it will be a small price to pay when you take into account how far you've gone.

 

Post lots of pictures.

[8OWHUNT247]

^ +1

 

Just a half day is all you need...

[CouesPursuit]

+2 on the half day and great advice by scoutm.

 

Aside from that, getting strikes requires a DEAD drift with very few exceptions. Depending on several flow and surrounding vegetation characteristics; mending line and roll casting are essential techniques that a guide can get you fixed up on in no time.

 

A local fly shop up there would be the best way to get on the right flies for this time of year if you choose not to hire a guide.

 

Good luck and have fun!

[Little Creek Calls]

Learning to cast and mend on a bigger river the first trip out might be a little difficult on your own. I guide would defiantly help. In the meantime take the new rod out to the park or some of the local urban lakes and try to get a little head start on the casting. If you want to try to learn and practice mending go to the salt river maybe Phon D Sutton to avoid most of the tubers. Work on casting and mending and don't worry about catching fish. A two indicator setup is good for learning to mend, try to keep them parallel the same distance apart while floating downstream.

[CouesPursuit]

Learning to cast and mend on a bigger river the first trip out might be a little difficult on your own. I guide would defiantly help. In the meantime take the new rod out to the park or some of the local urban lakes and try to get a little head start on the casting. If you want to try to learn and practice mending go to the salt river maybe Phon D Sutton to avoid most of the tubers. Work on casting and mending and don't worry about catching fish. A two indicator setup is good for learning to mend, try to keep them parallel the same distance apart while floating downstream.

Excellent ^^

I started practicing my roll casting in the local canal, can't beat the access but it's hardly suitable for overhand casting.. You might find a lot of fishable water that way though, too.

[scoutm]

Fly fishing is all about presentation. You can be rigged properly and have the perfect fly on but if your presentation is poor you won't catch a thing. With good presentation even with the wrong fly you'll catch fish. For a first timer it would suck to get frustrated fishing such an amazing place. If the fee is too much see if any of the shops/lodges have group trips you can join.

[DesertBull]

 

I'm taking the family up to Yellowstone National Park next weekend and will be trying my hand at fly fishing for the first time. It will be the opening week of the Firehole River and I couldn't be more excited. That being said, I know nothing about fly fishing and even less about fishing the Firehole. Does anybody have some experience they can share with me? Maybe some flies that may be useful this time of year? I went out and got a nice rod/reel setup from Cabelas yesterday, but the guys in the fly shop there had no tips for me when it comes to Yellowstone.

 

 

Snapshot knows a lot about fly fishing Montana.

[rclouse79]

I use to backpack in with my dad and fly fish every summer. Some of our favorite spots were Slough Creek, confluence of Hellroaring Creek and the Yellowstone River, Seven Mile Hole of the Yellowstone river. I did well using Stimulators alone, or with a dropper. Tiny pmd's were good as well. If you hike in five miles on Slough Creek you will not need to worry about a guide. My dad was not much of a fisherman, and pretty much just went to spend time with me. When we camped at the last spot on Slough Creek we finally went back to camp because our arms were tired of catching fish. Go to Trout Lake if you want to catch beautiful cutthroat with a chance at a HUGE rainbow. The rainbows are hard to catch, but I hooked into a couple in many tries. It is super frustrating because you can see them swimming around like submarines in the crystal clear water. Stripping in a damsel fly nymph worked well for the cuts. These pictures are some I had in my classroom.

Slough Creek backcountry Cut

Cut from the Yellowstone River right off of the road

Trout Lake Cut

Trout Lake Cut

Trout Lake Rainbow

Yellowstone River off of the Road

Stimulator next to a Stonefly. If you go the right time of year the Stoneflies are everywhere! After a while you stop swatting them away and just let them crawl all over you.

[Snapshot]

You will have a lot of Competition on the opener of the Firehole, get there early if you can. Even if the fishing doesn't pick up until late morning, it's best to stake your claim to an area. The Yellowstone and it's tributaries don't open until July, to protect the spawning Cutts.

 

Baetis Dry flys, and Nymphs (Blue WIng Olives) Maybe some Pale Morning Duns if the weather is good enough. Midges, Serendipities, Small Copper Johns. Maybe a little too early for Caddis. If no hatches are coming off, you will have to do alot of nymphing.

 

A big Yellow/Orange Stimulator with a small nymph. or rubber leg dropper can be very effective if the stone flies are starting to wiggle around the bottom of the stream with the oncoming hatch.

 

A 9' 5 weight rod, with 4x, or 5x leader and tippet is a good combo.

 

If you are in the West Yellowstone area, stop in and see Bob Jacklin at his fly shop. He will hook you up, and set you in the right direction.;

[Coach]

Great advice above, especially getting a guide. When I fly-fished AK the first time I thought I knew what I was doing and my dad is an excellent fly-fisherman. Hiring a guide to teach us little tips and tricks on the Russian was key. Each river is a little different and the right guide can help you save time finding out the right technique.

 

Best of luck, and please share some photos of your trip.

 

rclouse79 - great photos!

[Snapshot]

I don't have any pics from the Firehole. But, mid July, when the Yellowstone opens, you can catch big Cutt's like this.

The Gibbon River is a fun place to fish also. Mostly pan sized trout, with an occasional bigger one.

 

This fish was caught on a size 14 Pheasant tail nymph. I caught his twin, shortly after this photo.

 

 

[Coach]

Funny that the awesome trout Snapshot just shared was caught on a Pheasant tail. Since my AK trip I've found probably the most "universal" fly is a brass bead-head pheasant tail nymph. On lakes, it's an easy retrieve, just start at the top and let it go deeper with each retrieve. On rivers, there's a definite technique. You can't just toss it out there. It's an over-hand loop where you pretty much have to land the nymph at head of the pool, keep all your line above it without a lot of slack line to drag it down. If it moves too fast (the line is pulling it) it doesn't look natural. It it's being pulled by the line at all it won't be hit. When you get the roll cast to where the line is above the fly even in faster water, you have a few seconds where the fly is drifting naturally in the seam between fast and slow water. As soon as the current takes your line below the fly and starts pulling it, you roll again, putting your line above the fly again.

 

Always work upstream rolling the line above the fly where the fast water hits the slack water. JMO.

[Snapshot]

Funny that the awesome trout Snapshot just shared was caught on a Pheasant tail. Since my AK trip I've found probably the most "universal" fly is a brass bead-head pheasant tail nymph. On lakes, it's an easy retrieve, just start at the top and let it go deeper with each retrieve. On rivers, there's a definite technique. You can't just toss it out there. It's an over-hand loop where you pretty much have to land the nymph at head of the pool, keep all your line above it without a lot of slack line to drag it down. If it moves too fast (the line is pulling it) it doesn't look natural. It it's being pulled by the line at all it won't be hit. When you get the roll cast to where the line is above the fly even in faster water, you have a few seconds where the fly is drifting naturally in the seam between fast and slow water. As soon as the current takes your line below the fly and starts pulling it, you roll again, putting your line above the fly again.

 

Always work upstream rolling the line above the fly where the fast water hits the slack water. JMO.

When nymphing, I usually use a "2 fly" rig, with a small splitshot between the flies, and a strike indicator 5' to 6' above the bottom fly, depending on depth and speed of the current. I use my "meat and potatoes" flies, and do pretty well. Constant mending of the line is a must.

 

In the popular fishing spots around West Yellowstone, the bigger, and more wary trout, can get wise to bead head flies as the season progresses. I usually switch to smaller, and more sparse looking nymphs, after mid-summer when fish get more selective.

 

Dry fly fishing is a blast when the fish are rising, but probably 80% of the fish I catch are subsurface, or in the surface film with emergers.

[CouesPursuit]

You guys are sharing some great stuff thanks.