A Yellowstone Update
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In between business trips, I’ve headed South to the Park four times in the last two weeks. Every trip has been memorable and productive. More Lake Trout and the Firehole continues to fish very well. Early mornings will find you alone on almost any stretch of the Firehole. The tourists and tourist anglers don’t show up until about 10AM.
Alone on the Firehole
One of the best things about June in Yellowstone is the wildflowers—they abound.
A week ago Friday, we ventured into the NE section of the Park to see what’s cooking with the Lamar, Soda Butte and Slough Creek. Soda Butte and the Lamar remain blown and will be for at least a few more weeks. Lots of snow still on the peaks. Slough Creek however is clearing nicely and is probably fishable as of now.
Slough Creek below the Campground
One of the nice things about having time to explore is realizing there are still some amazing fisheries close at hand that remain relatively unknown. The hike into Trout Lake off Soda Butte Creek near the NE entrance to the park is less than ¾ of a mile (very much uphill). A while back on the forum someone asked about where to go to catch large trout out west. Well Trout Lake might be one of those places. I only fished for about two hours from shore and only managed a couple of 18” cuts. But, the sight of those 24”, 5# rainbows cruising the shoreline sucking down midges was captivating. There were only a few anglers on the lake in float tubes, but I saw at least two of the large rainbows caught while I was there. If big, fat trout are what you are looking for, then Trout Lake might be worth the hike. There are some huge fish there and the scenery is quite nice.
Trout Lake, NE Yellowstone National Park
The last two trips into the park got me onto the Madison for the 1st time this year. For as much notoriety that this stream commands, it receives (as far as I can tell) relatively little pressure. The tourist anglers stop for 30 minutes at a convenient turnout, barely get their feet wet, and do little to really pester the trout. Even visiting veteran anglers, unfamiliar with the river, get both intimidated by its size and its reputation. I shared a plane ride recently with an accomplished angler who had visited and fished Yellowstone many times. He expressed those same feelings. He had never really fished the Madison in the park because it was too big and too difficult. Such is not the case if you are willing to wade.
My last two forays on the Madison were in National Park Meadows (Sunday) and along Grasshopper Bank (Thursday and Sunday). The lower end of the meadows leaves the road and travels about .7 of a mile along the base of National Park Mountain. On Sunday, I fished that stretch of river with my bugger/softhackle combo for 2 hours from 11AM-1PM – Prime tourist time—and there was not another angler in sight. Fish were rising everywhere to PMDs along the far bank and one only had to wade within range to catch all the 12-16” browns you could handle. As much as it might seems, the muddy grass beds are not bottomless. One only needs a bit of courage to traverse them.
Madison River, National Park Meadows looking upstream toward National Park Mountain
Madison River, National Park Meadows downstream toward Mount Haynes
A Madison River Brown
Probably the most intriguing place I fished was Grasshopper Bank (named by Dave Whitlock, and discussed by Charlie Brooks in Fly Fishing Yellowstone Waters). Grasshopper Bank is the last decent water on the Madison before the Barns Pools. Just downstream from Grasshopper, the river breaks into many miles of shallow riffle water with few fish. Grasshopper ends and the riffles begin at the upstream end of Riverside Drive. If you park at Riverside, you can easily wade across the river and gain access to Grasshopper bank. For ¾ of a mile upstream, the bank is 6-18” deep with a moderate current. Several deeper channels parallel the bank and hold a lot of fish. This is not weedy water like the meadows, but a combination of bedrock and cobble. On Thursday, I hiked up the bank and bugger/softhackled my way back to the crossing. On Sunday, there were so many fish rising that I attempted a bit of dry fly fishing on my way upstream and managed to land a few browns on an elk hair caddis (An accomplished dry fly man would have probably caught a lot more). However, buggering back down was much more productive. There aren’t any adult hoppers around yet, but a few immature are showing in the grass. It was really amazing to see how many large (14-16”) browns were literally hugging the bank feeding on caddis and PMDs. It should be a really fun bank to fish with hoppers in July-August. On Sunday I fished Grasshopper from 1:30-4:30PM and literally did not see another angler the entire time.
Grasshopper Bank
I can’t wait to get out to that part of the country later this summer. Was it fairly easy to fish Trout Lake from the bank, or did you feel like a boat would have significantly helped?
Tim,
I suspect the answer lies with the time of year you fish the lake.Was it fairly easy to fish Trout Lake from the bank, or did you feel like a boat would have significantly helped?
Tim
Here’s a link to a bit of recent talk about Trout LakeAnother nice report and some beautiful pics!
Well .. Maybe I should take back my post from your madison in the park report. Looks like you just have to get up early enough to beat the crowds!
Another nice report and some beautiful pics!
Well .. Maybe I should take back my post from your madison in the park report. Looks like you just have to get up early enough to beat the crowds! 😀
Corey,
Yellowstone is a place where its really possible to be alone in a crowd if you have the right state of mind.
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