Mike Cline
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For me, it had to be this sunrise:
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
John, no way to know because such closures aren’t really capricious. FWP has a policy to put “Hoot Owl” (2PM to Midnight) closures on any water that reaches 73 degrees for three consecutive days. Anyway, the fishing just isn’t very good once water temps edge into the 70s. The Upper Madison benefits in that regard because it is a tail water of Hebgen and Quake Lakes and there are minimum flows mandated to protect the river. I think its at least 600cfs at Kirby Ranch. The upper river stays reasonably cool even with minimum flows. Minimum flows are designed to protect the river, but the river isn’t very floatable at minimum flows. Here’s the link to the USGS flows for the Upper Madison near Hebgen. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?06038500. Flows currently are good, the lake is only a foot below full pool and the temps aren’t getting into the 70s for any length of time. Hopefully, our heat wave and rain less days will subside over the next month.
I did a little urban fishing in Twin Bridges (Beaverhead) this morning (another tail water) from before dawn (6AM) to about 10:15AM. Early on when the sun is off the water or along shady banks, the fishing was outstanding with hoppers and buggers for better than average Browns. Once the sun got on the water things really slowed down and you could see the fish getting lethargic. Air temp was 53 degrees when I started and 77 when I quit. I was off the water by 11AM.
Brown on hopper taped in at 22.5″, 3wgt Diamond Glass
Bluebird skies, even at 6AM in Twin BridgesStrategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
This, in general is disturbing. Rooster and Dana (his wife) are great people and we’ve enjoyed the Stonefly every time we’ve stayed there. In the Billing Gazette article, the thefts at Hells Canyon are really scary. This is an FAS on the Jefferson where a lot of guides and floaters leave their vehicles for the take out when they float the lower Beaverhead. Madison County is over 3600 square miles (about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island) with a population of ~7500. They have 6 deputies, 1 detective along with a the sheriff and undersheriff. Not a lot of manpower to solve these kinds of crimes. I suspect that if these kinds of crimes continue in the county, there will be a revival of some Western vigilantism.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Although this might seem dated, I would consider this the bible for fly fishing for smallmouth in Eastern streams.
Murray, Harry (1989). Fly Fishing For Smallmouth Bass. New York: Lyons and Burford Publishers. ISBN 0-941130-85-1.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Zach,
Gardiner is different from West Yellowstone because of its heritage and its geography. It was founded in 1880, but existed since 1872. In the early days it was the only official entrance to the park. In 1886 it essentially became a military town when the US Army took control of the park and established Fort Yellowstone. The bars and such are remnants of that era. The Northern Pacific came to Cinnabar in 1883 and Gardiner in 1906 making Gardiner THE entrance to the park for tourists, especially from the Northwest and Northeast US. West Yellowstone didn’t come into existence until 1908 when the Union Pacific tracks reached the west side of the park The road from Bozeman to West wasn’t operational until 1913 (it was only a single track dirt road at the time). As the trains went away in the 1960s, Gardiner didn’t have near the draw that West did. Because Gardiner is sandwiched in the canyon, against the park boundary and bisected by the Yellowstone River it never had much room to expand its main streets. West Yellowstone was essentially a green field.
If you ever want to watch a very campy movie about Yellowstone, but see some of what the park was like in the 1930’s, watch this one: Yellowstone (1936)
On the fly shop side, Parks’ is a great success story. Several years ago I talked with Richard and Walter when I wrote most of the Wikipedia article on the shop. When Merton Parks established the shop (1953), Dan Bailey’s in Livingston was the dominant fly shop along the Yellowstone. Dan helped Merton establish the Gardiner shop to expand Bailey’s wholesale tackle business. There weren’t any other the shops between Livingston and Gardiner at the time. Today, there are at least 6 shops in Livingston and Emigrant servicing Yellowstone River and a shop in Cooke City servicing the northeast corner of the park. A lot of Parks’ work is on the river outside the park on the Yellowstone and it’s much easier for anglers to book Yellowstone trips out of Livingston or Bozeman. I think the short Yellowstone Park fishing season is why you don’t see more shops in Gardiner. The waters near Gardiner (Lamar, Slough, Gardner, etc) have a very short season, whereas the waters near West (Firehole, Madison, Gibbon, etc) can be fished all season. Plus West has a lot more accessible water in Montana and Idaho outside the park.
Walter Wiese is Parks’ head guide and a very talented fly tier. He recently published this book: Yellowstone Country Flies-The Fly Patterns of Parks’ Fly Shop. It is a great pattern reference for the most popular and productive flies used in the Park.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Great pics Matt. I miss the fish and fishing in Alabama Rivers, but I don’t miss the heat and humidity.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Where might that nice fish be? Looks like a nice Yellowstone Cutt!
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
The stretch of the Ruby in the pics is ~ 30 miles south of Alder. The upper ~13 miles of the Ruby (above Cottonwood Creek) is all National Forest land. It doesn’t get much pressure and yes the summer has been great so far.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
<cite> @tim angeli said:</cite> And out of curiosity, along the lines of Joel’s comment, what was the justification with Montana State University at #1 over University of Montana? From my perspective, they are similar in regards to academics, local fishing options, culture, location (in a general sense – western MT), etc. It sounds like the proximity of MSU to the fabled waters of YNP, NW Wyoming, and Idaho may have been the kicker?
Tim
It’s pretty obvious why Zach went with MSU as #1 – We’ve got the shirts and the hats.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
The only rattler I’ve ever encountered in the Kayak was on the lower East Gallatin as the river passed through a section of dry sagebrush and rocks. They certainly don’t avoid swimming but they certainly aren’t a menace in most places. That said, there are a few places like Harrison Lake and Willow Creek that are notorious for the numbers of rattlers seen by anglers. But it is definitely not something I fret about.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
<cite> @eric weller said:</cite>
Jealous Mike, totally jealousEric
Don’t be, you are only 1900 miles away and you have a kayak. The rivers will fish well into October. And the Browns will get bigger as the year goes on.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
<cite> @eric weller said:</cite>
Jealous Mike, totally jealousEric
Don’t be, you are only 1900 miles away and you have a kayak.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
It’s not called Trout U for nothing.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Welcome to the club. Good job. I can visualize that green tube on the Big Hole.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
We were there two years ago (2011) when runoff didn’t end until late July (Yellowstone Flows Corwin Springs 2010-13. This year Montana precip YTD is at 85-105% of normal. Wyoming is a bit dryer. But this is what we like to see. A quote from Park’s Fly Shop in Gardner:
With the Yellowstone now dropping and clearing daily, we are now booking float trips for the remainder of June. We expect the Salmonfly hatch to begin no later than June 26, and probably sometime between the 21st and 24th.
Pretty good for mid June in Montana. Most of the big name rivers are following suit.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Thanks
I’ve only been into the Lewis/Shoshone channel once and the fishing was decent. I walked it and it was a day trip so in the Fall it becomes a long day. It is a bit isolated from the backcountry camps on Shoshone so doing overnights is also a challenge. I have never ventured out across Lewis in the kayak because of the notorious wind but reaching the channel by boat is an option for the brave.
However, if you want spawning browns in the Fall, the Gardner is a much more logistically easy river and doesn’t get much pressure. The one place I really want to go is Heart Lake, camp overnight and catch the abundant Cutts and Lakers from shore. If only the Bears would behave.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Out of interest, is it hard to get your own stretches of river ?
Sounds like it gets busy.David,
Fishing in Yellowstone can be very frustrating if you are on the wrong river, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some places, some times of the year can get very congested with a mix of local (150 mile radius) and out of town serious anglers and those ever present tourists who fish once or twice while they visit Yellowstone. That said, over the course of a season, it’s really easy to find good fishing and solitude on every one of Yellowstone’s premier rivers. I have spent many, many lonely hours on the Lamar, Madison, Gibbon, Gardner, Lower Yellowstone and Firehole without ever seeing another angler. Here are my tips:
In the early part of the season (June-August), the days are long – get out on the water before the sunrises and you’ll have hours of lonely fishing. In the Fall (Sept-Oct), the mornings are cold, get out early to avoid the wimps. Evenings are almost always lonely.
If the river is paralleled by a road – get as far away from the road as possible. A ¼ mile off road in Yellowstone can seem like a different world. Look at the maps and find those sections of rivers that are accessible by bush wacking or taking angler trails. The Black Canyon of the Yellowstone and lower Grand Canyon provide some really outstanding big water fishing in lonely country if you are willing to work for it.
If the river is paralleled by a road – get on the other side of the river. Finding a way to cross and “Fish the other side” can isolate you from crowds very quickly as a great many Yellowstone anglers don’t know how to wade in the bigger water.
Don’t let weather deter you, especially in the Fall – Snow and rain are common and it will keep the wimps off the river.
Learn the seasons, river characteristics and associated techniques for each of the various river systems. Each has differences that do make a difference when you really want to catch fish. Most of the rivers do not fish well all season for a variety of reasons and most of the rivers do not fish well over the entire length of the river. Some sections and type of water are significantly more productive than others. A lot of anglers on the Madison and Firehole spend a lot of hours fishing unproductive water because it’s both easy and they don’t know the fish aren’t there.
Finally, if you are fishing lonely water and are intruded upon by obnoxious, disrespectful anglers, don’t tolerate it. Take the opportunity to tell them to go find their own spot in no uncertain terms.
A Lonely Place Like This Just Takes A Little Work-
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Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
Mike any idea what this means for the handful of native grayling in places like Cascade Lake?
Today, Cascade holds only Cutts and Grayling, both natives so its all catch and release anyway. FYI, Cascade was fishless when the park was created and the Cutts and Grayling were stocked sometime in the early 20th century, thus the Grayling is not natural in Cascade as they were only native to the Madison/Gallatin drainage when the park was created (Cascade is in the Yellowstone River drainage).
Unfortunately, its only in the Lamar drainage where removing the few rainbows and brook trout that persist might be beneficial. The lower Yellowstone drainage will always be influenced by stocks of fish moving upriver from Montana so wantonly killing Rainbows and Browns in the Yellowstone and Gardner rivers isn’t likely to have much impact on Cutts. However, if by some chance meat hunters start targeting the lower Yellowstone and Gardner for spawning browns (and feeding rainbows that follow in the Fall), it is likely that whole angling experience in those rivers will be degraded.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
What’s going on with the banks near the Gibbon? I see bison tracks but that also looks like someone took a wheeled vehicle through the mud.
Zach
I think you are referring to the Muleshoe Bend image on the Firehole. Indeed I noticed the distinct symmetry of the bison trails on the slope above the river. My assessment is this. During the summer, this slope is extremely dry and sandy, without much vegetation. Anglers trudge up and down it and pretty much destroy all the trails that accumulated over the winter. There’s one hard trail along the bottom. In November when the park closes this area becomes a bear management area and no humans should venture into it until the end of May (even though I did last Saturday). This is also a thermal area, so I don’t know how much snow accumulates on the slope. But what was obvious to me was that once winter sets in, the ground gets and stays wet for 7 months without any human traffic. The Bison appear to take a rather straight route each time they traverse the slope around the bend, thus leaving the symmetrical tracks. Trust me, by evening on May 27, after three days of anglers trudging up and down this slope, it won’t look the same.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
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
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