Call us for a wind report! 406-222-7130

Last Updated: 7/14/2009 by James Anderson

The Stone | Spring Creeks | Yellowstone Park | Guide Services

Local & Private Lakes | Madison River | CFS @ Carter's

Yellowstone River

The bulk of the Salmonflies have finally made it into the Park.

Turns out there was a plug of mud from the Gardner, but it was short lived. By 2:30 in the afternoon the opaque brown plug was already past point of rocks, above that was green. We put in at Carbella and there was about a foot and a half of visibility. We only saw a couple of salmonflies, so we let the wind push us out quickly. Lots of fresh empties... salmonfly shucks lined up along the rock wall of the bird #$% cliffs.

We checked slip and slide and Brogan's Landing for bugs... plenty of caddis, yellow sallies, and some goldenstones, but no salmonflies. We finally caught up to the big bugs under the high bridge in Gardiner. I think the belly of the hatch is already in the park now, but talking to the locals there are quite a few bugs still below Gardiner... so McConnell to Brogan's is where it's at if you're going to try to catch them in a drift boat. Otherwise, it's time to buy that Park license and grab your day pack...

The yellow sallies are much smaller than the goldenstones and

Salmonflies. A size 14 yellow stimulator would be a good dropper.

The Yellowstone dropped to 8,600 CFS, rising slightly to 8,690. The increase of CFS was due to last night's rain. Visibility has been improving and as long as this rain doesn't create a spike from more rain tonight we should be in good shape... it rained pretty hard just north of Gardiner last night.

The hatch looks thicker than last year, but up until this point, water clarity has kept those epic "grip and grins" in check. Now that the river is looking green that should change, especially once it drops below 8,000 CFS. In a week the river should be red hot and those neckless channel hogs will be ready to gorge on round two. By then the bugs will probably be above Yankee Jim, so bring your rowing gloves and be ready for a serious workout. After that the bugs will be in the Park.

The mountain creeks (Tom Miner, Big Creek, Mill Creek, ect.) are running high but clear, so fishing around the confluences has been solid. If you are floating a stretch and see clear water flowing in, drop anchor and swing some nymphs or a streamer.

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Salmonfly Dries #2- 4

Orange Stimulators #4-6

Goldenstone Dries #4-6

Yellow Stimulators #6-12

Brown Elk hair Caddis #10-12

Bitch Creeks #4-6

Black Home Invader

Black Sex Dungeon #2

Black leadeye buggers #2-4

Bow River Buggers #4-6

Black Woolhead sculpin #2

Black Sculpzilla #4

Black Circus Peanut #2

Black and Silver Double Bunnies #2-4

White Home Invader #2

White Zonkers #2-4

White Conrad Sculpin #2-4

Bow river Mud pup #2

Silver Kantellya #2-4

Gold Kantellya #2-4

Madison River

Joe Webster and outfitter Brian Sienkowski with a nice brown

The upper Madison is gin clear, but you better plan on leaving Bozeman early - as in 5:30 AM. I know, that sounds painful, but definitely better than watching 30-50 boats bounce down the banks and trample over the trout. We arrived at Lyon's and were the first boat in the water at 7:15 but were passed quickly by about 20 boats before pulling out at Palisades around 1:30. The best dry fly action was definitely early in the morning, despite the fact that the natural salmonflies don't get going until later. We only saw 2 salmonfly adults, but hooked four nice fish on salmonfly dries and moved a few pigs.

The big bugs have been spotty, but thickest hatch is probably still between Palisades and the Story ditch. Up at Lyon's there were lots of small dark caddis on the water, even some PMD's, but the bigger fish were looking for salmonflies, even over the goldenstones and yellow stimulators. We double dipped and floated Varney to Burnt Tree later that afternoon, thinking we'd get below the hustle. The fishing down there was even slower. The fish down there were in the deepest water, often in the middle of the river, not tucked up under the willows where you'd wish they would be. It was still a fun day, but not red hot. Maybe it had something to do with the full moon...

Spring Creeks

Ken Dunston with a nice McCoy's brown. Photo: James Anderson

This one snuffed about 30 casts with various dry flies, only to take a PMD nymph the very first cast! We had a good hatch of PMD's and then a thick emergence of brown caddis in the evening.

The PMD's have been in full force on all the creeks. Tons of nymphs, but more importantly the big Ephemerella Infrequens duns have been hovering the water. PMD emergers and nymphs still had the edge over fishing dries, but the ultimate dry fly angler can still be in action through out the day. Depending on the day, the hatch will start around 10:00 or 11:00, sometimes going as late as 6:00. Be sure to have various different stages of PMD's if you want to be more effective and try to concentrate on what they are eating at any given time. To do this, you might wade below an active fish and watch closely to see what is flowing down his lane. If you see more emergers than dries, go for one of Harrop's short wing emergers - they are deadly. No surprise, the grey / than sparkle scud played clean up as a good dropper. Things are starting to get busier over here, so call before head out.

A female PMD Spinner with a large egg sack

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Armstrong's Spring Creek

DePuy's Spring Creek

Nelson's Spring Creek

Read George's news on Nelson's Spring Creek

"Paradise Valley PMD Hatch" by George Anderson

HATCHES

The PMD's are here! We saw at least 2 dozen dries on Armstrong's last week and the fish were already on them. In flipping over a few rocks, PMD nymphs were crawling everywhere. We also found a ton of PMD nymphs in Matt Wilhelm's collected samples from DePuy's - which were used to show the kids at the FFF/TU kids camp last Saturday. Also found in the samplings were stone flies, caddis, midge larva, and scuds. Still, the PMD nymphs out numbered the other samples 10 to 1. Dave student's PMD nymph is one of the better commercial representations of these aquatic insects, mostly because it is sparsely tied. If you are tying these up yourself, try not to add too much material to the hook and keep it simple. For duns, a sparkle dun is a great pattern, especially if you plan to use a dropper. It will float high and can take a beating from the fish. If you have a more difficult fish that is consistently refusing your fly, try switching to one of René Harrop's PMD No Hackles. Solitude offers many Harrop patterns which work very well, but the "originals" tied by the René and his family are in a class of their own. They are truly pieces of art, and while any one of them could be shadow boxed to hang on your wall, they are made to fish. There's only a few shops in the world that carry them - lucky for us, we are one of them...

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Harrop's PMD Sparkle Dun #18

Harrop's PMD olive short wing emerger #18

Harrop's PMD half and half emerger #18

HD PMD Emerger #16-20

PMD Captive Dun#16-20

CDC PMD Transitional Dun #16-20

PMD Biot Thorax #16-20

PMD Last Chance Cripple #16-20

Angle Case PMD emerger #18

Various Dave Student PMD nymphs #16-20

Black Zebra midges #18

Olive midge larva #18

Tan (grey) Sparkle scuds #18

Olive Sparkle scuds #18

Bighorn sow bugs #18

Black leadeye buggers #8

Rag Sculpins #4-6

*Brown Home Invader #6

* Until Umpqua starts cranking these out, be extra nice to Doug!

Local & Private Lakes

James Anderson and Gerry Lenzen admire a lunker

caught by the photographer, Michael Gaffney

Looking to hook a hog? Let us hook you up with one of the local or private lakes we fish. The spring is one of the best times to target BIG fish. This time of year can be outstanding sight fishing, as many of these fish haven't seen flies in a while. Once the summer roles around, the same big fish will hang out in deeper, cooler water - so now is one of your best chances to catch them!

We realize that lake fishing isn't for everyone. It really isn't, but our combination of great guides and exclusive lakes usually makes for a phenomenal day on the water. Learning different stillwater techniques could prove useful back home too! A lot of our clients will pass at first on the notion of coming out to Montana to fish lakes, but those who give it a shot almost always come back for more. After getting hog or two under their belts, a few of our clients have even made the switch to only fish lakes, forgetting about our blue ribbon rivers altogether!

Gerry Lenzen with a 23 inch rainbow caught on a size 16 René

Harrop Callibaetis. Click here to check out more lake photos.

HATCHES

Midges, Callibaetis, Damsels, leeches, dragon fly nymphs, scuds, and snails should cover you. Since most Montana lakes will get similar hatches, it makes sense to buy a selection of lakes flies for your lake box. In the early season (Mid May - Early June) you'll see more midges and Callibaetis than anything. Chironomids and zebra midges work well for droppers. For Callibaetis, make sure you have some flies that represent every stage of the hatch including nymphs, emergers, duns, and spent spinners. Harrop ties the most impressive spinners that we carry, but we have several other good patterns that are hard to find. Once things get a little hotter damsel nymphs will be more important than the midges or callibaetis. We've caught a lot of big browns on damsel nymphs. John Barr's damsel has been one of our favorites, also damsels with a tiny petitjean cone. The Leeches, scuds, and snails will work well for you year round.

RECOMMENDED FLIES

Lake Chironomids #14

Copper bead black zebra midge #18

Purple or Red oversized zebra midge #14

René Harrop parachute Callibaetis #16

René Harrop Callibaetis Spinners #16

Epoxy bead Callibaetis nymphs #14-16

Grey Sparkle scuds #14-18

Olive Sparkle scuds #14-18

Pig Pen Leech #6

Beadhead Bo face leech #6

Olive multicolored wooly bugger #6-8

Olive multicolored leadeye #6-8

Barr Damsel nymph #14-16

Whitlock Dragon fly nymph #12-14

Yellowstone National Park

Heading to Slough Creek? Bring your bug spray...

The Lamar side of the Park is finally coming into play. Slough Creek has been fishing well - but bring your bug spray, head net, and whatever else you have to deter yourself from getting carried away by the mosquitoes and deer flies. Bring some small hoppers and beetles as well as some PMD's and buggers. The Gardner is high but clear, so an angler could enjoy some good pocket water near the confluence of the Yellowstone (bring some salmonflies) or you could hit it up high with trudes and attractors looking for a brookie or two. Many of the high mountain lakes are fishing well now. Give us a call at the shop for more info on that. The Lamar is around 2000 CFS and dropping, which is still high but worth a look. Soda Butte and Pebble are waiting for you...

Salmon Fly Fever

Gordon Waterfalls with a strong brown caught on a salmonfly dry. Almost lost the whole fly line! Photo: head guide Eric Paulson

So what is it about Salmonflies that drive anglers towards 10 day fishing binges, lack of sleep, "arm pump" from rowing hard, tunnel vision, broken rods, profanity, speeding tickets, lucent fishing dreams, excessive drooling, and otherwise near insanity? Perhaps it is seeing a big brown rocket off the bottom and explode on your dry fly like a cherry bomb, or seeing hundreds of mini choppers hovering overhead like a scene from Apocalypse Now. Perhaps it is the chase that is more fun than the actual catch. Naw, scratch that. EVERYBODY likes catching big fish, and catching them on big dries is the icing on the cake. This incredible hatch in my mind, (and many others), is the best dry fly fishing of the year.

Give us a call at the shop for the most current details on where the hatches are and where you should go! Both the Madison and Yellowstone are fishing as well as some others! 406-222-7130.