New Article: Yellowstone County
- This topic has 8 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated May 25, 2013 at 1:56 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
This one will be good for those of you planning a trip this summer. There’s some useful info in the sidebar towards the bottom:
Consequently, even though Slough Creek is arguably the most famous piece of water in the park…
Zach, do you really think Slough is more renown than the Firehole, Madison and Buffalo Ford on the Yellowstone? The literature on the park’s angling since 1938 would suggest otherwise. Or, do you think that Slough’s popularity is of a more recent vintage as anglers seek to get away from the more crowded rivers?
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Certainly Slough Creek has become one of the most popular – and overcrowded – streams in the park. And I think for Zach’s generation it is possibly the most famous today. But if you look at older literature, the writing is about the Firehole, the Madison and the Yellowstone. In the 1970’s, no one hiked to the second meadow to fish – they didn’t need to because there were many fewer fishermen.
I don’t think it makes any difference which stream is most famous. The important thing is to go experience the magic of Yellowstone National Park. It will change your life.
Hey Mike –
Speaking as someone who read basically every Fly Fisherman magazine (and all its competitors) from the late-90s on, I would say Slough Creek is the primo, but that’s why I wrote “arguable.”
By the way I really appreciate you guys reading the articles and bringing the discussion here to the board. That was the idea behind the new integrated site.
Personally, speaking I guess as a member of my generation, when I think of the Madison I think of the 30-mile-riffle outside the park. When I think of the Firehole I think “probably closed due to heat,” which has been its condition every time I’ve been to Yellowstone (I’ve spent well over a month in the Park now but it’s always been in late August/early September of different years).
The other thing about Slough that I think sets it apart is the alpine meadow configuration, which just makes it such a pleasure to fish. I fished it with Ian Crabtree last fall after this article came out (it ran in American Angler). I stuck to the high banks and fished hoppers. Ian got down in the creek and fished tricos. Ian is a spectacular dry fly fisherman (he is designing rods for Scott now), and he outfished me probably 1.5 or 2:1, but we both pretty much raked. That’s what I love about it; provided you are competent, you can have a banner day at Slough, sight fishing the whole time and never tying on a nymph.
Thanks again guys,
ZachIn the 1970′s, no one hiked to the second meadow to fish – they didn’t need to because there were many fewer fishermen.
Actually not the case, the annual number of anglers in Yellowstone in the 1970s was significantly higher than today. Bait fishing was still allowed until 1969 and catch and release was foreign language to most tourists in 1970s. Until Fishing Bridge was closed in 1975, most tourists easily took their limit of three trout out of the Yellowstone everyday during their visit. The Firehole, Gibbon and Madison were very productive in the 1970s in June, Sept and October and although they were fly fishing only back then, the limit was still three fish a day. Upper Slough on the other hand was somewhat remote and required more effort for the same three fish. I first fished Slough 2nd meadow in 1972 in August and remember it as a lonely day hike to a beautiful meadow with average fishing (compared to the Firehole in June). In 1992, I fished from the campground upstream to the 1st meadow, saw my first Yellowstone Grizzly sow and cubs in the steep canyon and remember catching a ton of fish in the rocky, tumbling water.
Today, angler numbers are drastically down, most are fly fishermen because catch and release is the norm for all natives and most of the accessible waters. What I find most cool about fishing in Yellowstone, is that at the right times of the year, the right times of the day and on the right water you can find yourself alone, isolated for hours on most of the storied waters in the park.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
That’s cool Mike. How would you say fishing in the park has changed in those years? Do you feel like the fish are smarter?
One of my pet theories is that the reason rainbows and cutties are easier to catch than browns is because of their respective lengths of time in the presence of anglers fishing with line and lure.
To my mind the relative difficulty of catching trout from hardest to easiest is:
browns > rainbows > brookies > cutthroat
This would be the chart of the amount of time humans have spent pursuing a given species with line and lure:
browns > brookies > rainbows > cutthroat
Brookies are abnormally aggressive because their reproductive strategy differs from that of the brown and the rainbow; they are more prone to fill their environment to capacity and hit a Malthusian crisis. Therefore they have to be more aggressive in the hopes of rising to the top of the more competitive food chain. (Incidentally this is probably because brook trout have the most northerly native range of any of the fish we call trout).
Browns evolved being angled for since at least the Alexandrian period in Macedonia – i.e. at least 2500 years. Rainbows have been around anglers less (though they’ve probably been netted for just as long). I believe the constant need to upgrade our flies over the years–especially in pressured water–is evidence of an arms race going on with the fish. Catch-and-release should slow that process but we’ve probably already selected for a much pickier strain of rainbow trout just since we started propagating them in hatcheries in the 1930s.
Zach
I think two things have tangibly changed in the park fishing experience since I first fished there. Catch and release has helped reduce the number of anglers significantly. The significant decline in the Cutthroat population in the Yellowstone Lake/River system has also helped reduce angler numbers. Cutthroats, once considered easy to catch, aren’t anymore because of density, not smarts. From a personal standpoint, 40 years of experience make one a much better angler. I catch more fish today in Yellowstone than I did 40 years ago, not because the fishing has changed much, but because over the years I’ve learned how and when to first successfully on most of the water I frequent. Additionally, the amount of literature about Yellowstone waters today is significant compared to what was written in the 1970s. More knowledge, better experiences, more experiences, higher probability of success every time you try.
As to which trout species is harder to catch, I think it is an impossible question to assess. My philosophy has always been, that if I can find a way to put something that looks like food naturally in front of a trout, there is a high probability the trout will try and eat it-regardless of species. I think the perception of trout species smarts is often biased by the various species density in any given water, where individual species prefer to feed/hold in various types of water, and where they are in their annual breeding cycle. The Gibbon is a great example of this. Below the falls, average sized rainbows predominate in the fast water most of the summer, browns are rarer because most move out of the Gibbon, through the Madison into Hebgen lake. However in the Fall good sized pre-spawn browns dominate the catch because they’ve moved back into river from the lake. On the other hand, immediately above the falls in the fast water before Gibbon and Elk Meadows, browns dominate year round because they are ~10:1 density over rainbows and they are incredibly easy to catch.
Every year I keep a tally of the fish I catch for each day I fish in Montana for the Montana FWP department. Interesting enough, in the spring (Mar-May) and Fall (Sept-October) browns dominate the catch on most waters, whereas in July-August on the same waters Rainbows dominate. Do rainbows get dumber in summer and browns smarter, No!. My philosophy, I am smarter than most of the fish (most of the time) regardless of species, no matter what time of year it is. In Yellowstone I spend most of my time outsmarting any fish I can and don’t necessarily worry about the one’s that may be outsmarting me.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
When I said “older literature” I was thinking pre-1992. I wanted to make sure my memory wasn’t completely shot, so I did a quick review of Fly Fisherman in the years before “The Movie” was released in the autumn of 1992. I went back to 1974 and found the following articles on YNP.
1. “Salvation on the Yellowstone”, Gary LaFontaine. Talks about Gibbon River and the Yellowstone at Buffalo Ford. There is an interesting photo of Gary standing at Buffalo Ford with a caption noting that he was the solitary angler! (Mid Season 1974)
2. “Fishing the Firehole in Fall”, Ray Bergman (Late Season 1975)
3. “The Anatomy of a Spring Creek”, Ernest Schwiebert. Mentions the Gibbon River. (Early Season 1977)
4. “Western Spring Creeks in Autumn”, Charles F Waterman, Talks about the Firehole River. (Winter 1979)
5. “The Living River”, Charles Brooks. Detailed descripion and maps of the Madison River in the Park. (Season Opener 1980)
6. Great Waters: Yellowstone Park (Spring 19810
a. Ernest Schwiebert, “Queen of the Yellowstone”, Article about the Firehole.
b. Charles Brooks, “A Yellowstone Sampler,” Brief descriptions of the Gallatin, Duck Creek, Gibbon River, Yellowstone River and Slough Creek .
7. Yellowstone Stillwaters, Mike Lawson. Reviews a few lakes in the YNP along with outside the park. (September 1984)
8. Discovdry in Yellowstone, Rene Harrop, Detailed article on the Firehole. (June 1988)
9. Planning for the Rockies, A Special Report. Briefly describes the Yellowstone, Firehole, Madison, Pelican Creek, and Sough Creek. There are a about six sentences on Slough Creek including the recommendation that one get a guide! An interesting quote, “ The Yellowstone River from above LeHardy Rapids to below Buffalo Ford is the best fishng for cutthroat trout in the world.” (May 1992)My son and I first hiked to the first meadow on Slough Creek in July 1995. We saw no other anglers all day. Needless to say, I fell in love with the place.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.