Yellowstone Fishing Report

August 3, 2004

As I mentioned in our last Yellowstone Report, we were anticipating the Yellowstone River in the Park to fish better this year and it has. The river has been experiencing consistent insect hatches, and fish counts seem to be higher. The fish population isn’t what it was in the 90’s, but much greater than they’ve been the last couple of years. Though the numbers aren’t what they use to be, the average fish seems larger. It hasn’t been unusual to hook into 20” plus fish. Most of the hatches have been the customary late July bugs: the area’s most prolific mayfly-the PMD, the ever present Caddis, in multiple orders and sizes, and Little Yellow Sally’s.

Be prepared to angle with nymph, with emerger, with adult, and spent adults. Different times of day determine which stage of the life cycle you will need to imitate. We have had reports of a little hopper action but we haven’t experienced any ourselves, though this will assuredly get better as we move into August. But to show you how interesting the Yellowstone can be, last week we ran into what you would think would be the last of the Salmonflies right above LeHardy Rapids. It was somewhat of a short hatch, but very fierce, and every fish got up on them. So keep your mind open and your wits about you to different opportunities that can occur on this extraordinary fishery. The Yellowstone Cutthroat may not be as crafty as it’s brethren Brown and Rainbow, but many times until you crack the insect code, he can be very frustrating.

Actually most all of the Park has been fishing well, with the exception of the Lamar. We have been still receiving late afternoon rain showers and the Lamar has been going in and out with off-color water. If you intend to fish the Lamar I would suggest that you get right-to-the-minute conditions. And I would suggest that you stay away from the Firehole and the Madison. They are in their annual high water-temperature period, so give them a break and concentrate your efforts on other waters in the Park.

Good Fishing,
Howard Cole

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