Summer Trip: Yellowstone

[Davis Walker]

This summer I am going to yellowstone and plan on doing some fishing. I am pretty excited about it. I have been doing some research on good spots to hit but I was wondering if anyone had any experience, tips on fishing out there. My biggest setback so far is finding access points online on where to fish. Anyone have suggestions? Greatly appreciated

Davis

[Yambag Nelson]

I spent 8 days fishing just the park a few years ago.  Access is not a problem as the vast majority of rivers are road accessible.  One thing you should know is that it is not uncommon for some of the rivers (firehole, Madison, lower gibbon) to be closed in the summer (august) due to water temps.  If you go in july shouldn't be an issue.

The rivers I fished in the park:

Yellowstone:  Sucked in august.  I fished it outside the park in paradise valley a couple years later and it was good

Gibbon:  Pretty technical meadow fishing.  I liked it a lot.  My brother got a 22inch brown.

Lamar/soda butte:  Good cutthroat fishing

Gardner:  Good pocket water fishing for medium sized browns and rainbows

Slough:  Good cutthroat fishing.  Unfortunately the upper meadows were closed when I was there due to grizzly activity.  Otherwise I would have loved to hike into the upper meadow

Snake:  In the park was just ok.  Better sections outside the park.

There are a ton of other small streams.  I fished a couple of them but don't remember what they were called.

On Thursday, April 3, 2014 6:06:51 PM UTC-4, Davis Walker wrote:

[peter odell]

We spent several days in and around the park in September a couple of years ago.  There is a lot of water available, and a mile hike will get you outside of most fisherman who pull up, park, and fish on the road accessible spots - though with the catch and release programs, we did pretty well there also.  Firehole was very good.  The whole environment is incredible scenic. 

 

We floated the Madison with a guide and it was a beautiful river - though all fishing was from the boat, the river is one continuous riffle for miles.   Yellowstone and Gallatin outside the park were also excellent. 

 

Have a great trip - it will likely be very memorable.

[Nick Swingle]

Davis,

I was in the park camping and fishing a couple of days last summer.  I used the maps/trails and info from Ken Retallic's "Fly Fisher's Guide to Wyoming".  I chose to spend the couple of days that I had fishing the north end of the park in the Lamar Valley.  The Lamar and Slough were awesome -- dry flies for cutthroat.

--Nick

[Andrew LaVigne]

First, check in with Parks' Fly Shop in Gardiner, MT. The head guide there is a guy named Walter Wiese, actually knew him growing up in Missouri. He spends a ton of time in the Park and on the river in the Paradise Valley. Very knowledgeable guy, and can set you up, and guides in the park and on the river outside. 

Having visited Montana on trips and lived there for a stretch, one of the biggest keys to a trip out that way is to stay flexible, and be willing to do some driving to get to water that's fishing well. You may need to head for the spring creeks in Paradise valley, or over to the Beaverhead County/Madison County area, or even to the Missouri or Bighorn tailwaters - just depends on the water levels, which really matter out there. There's always something fishing well, just may not be what you expected. Also, for bigger rivers, like the Yellowstone, Madison, or Missouri, understand that a boat is incredibly helpful, if not mandatory, to cover enough water for success. A guide with a boat is a worthwhile investment for a day of your trip - you'll get to cover a big river, and you can plug them for tips on the wadeable fisheries. 

On Thursday, April 3, 2014 6:06:51 PM UTC-4, Davis Walker wrote:

[Kevin Chaney]

This was on the orvis blog the other day: http://www.orvis.com/news/fly-fishing/2014-montana-fishing-season-forecast/

I fished the madison  late june in 2012 with yellowstonefishingguides.com - Travis was our guide, and he was terrific. While I was in the park I hit the gibbon, Lava Creek, boiling river and - did quite well on Lava creek/boiling river using stonefly dry and dropper pattern. 

Some of the stores in yellowstone will have a fly-fishing tackle area - ask the guys or gals working for any tips or access points - they were very helpful when I went. 

I fished the stone thru paradise valley in september of 2012 with Dennis Alverson out of Livingston MT. He was great. 

I have a trip report or two somewhere on here with more details possibly.

Cheers,

Kevin