On the Fly Magazine: The Greater Yellowstone Fishing Guide

Fishing Report
Monday, July 9 2007 / 10:35 AM

Location: Greater Yellowstone Region

Snake : Despite the tempertaures reaching the mid 90’s last week, the fishing on the Snake, here in Jackson Hole remains good. We aren’t seeing the hatches we saw through June but the Cutties are still active and hungry. It’s attractor time here. Chernobyl patterns, Stimulators, Humpys, Wulffs,....and so on…. The most productive colors have been red or tan bodied patterns in 8 to 10. However, this river gets hit hard with those colors. If you are not having much success with the old staples, try throwing green, yellow or orange. And, by all means, put a dropper on! Most of the bigger fish are feeding deeper than most people expect. I’d suggest hanging your nymph at least 30 inches, especially if you’re on the water in the middle of the day. Speaking of timing, get out early or wait until evening if you can. Things have been shutting down, (no big suprise), around 2pm and picking up about 6:30 until dark. Yesterday, I floated South Park to Astoria in the heat of the day and picked up a bunch of Cutties but most were still in preschool! If you are able to get out in the evenings, look for a caddis hatch around 8pm until last light.

Snake River Tributaries : These are fishing suprisingly well for the Africa style weather we have had in the last 3 weeks. The Hoback continues to fish well with basic attractors but in smaller sizes….try something in a size 12 or even 14, with a dropper and concentrate on the canyon portion of the river. The water will be cooler and more hospitable to the trout. The Gros Ventre has been doing well also. Get up high if you have the time. The water won’t last long this year! My go to for the Gors Ventre this time of year is a yellow Stimmy and a golld ole copper john. Don’t worry about getting fancy. The only hatch to concern yourself with on any of the tribs right now is the evening caddis. Standard elk hairs will do the trick there.
Reports from the Buffalo Fork have also bee good. The water is a little cooler up there right now. Get yourself a map and hit the upper river. As many of you know, this year is a bit different than others. Be prepared for the tributary fishing to slow sooner rather than later.

Yellowstone National Park : If you haven’t heard, there was a huge fish kill on the Firehole recently. Water temperature reached 82 degrees! There is a voluntary restriction on most of the streams and rivers in the park. I advise you to take “voluntary” as “DON’T FISH UNTIL THE TEMPS COOL DOWN”. If you have to throw a line in the park try Lewis lake. You can still find a few fish cruising. If you are coming from far away and you just can’t pass up the chance to fish on a park river, play every fish as fast as possible, try to leave the fish in the water and practice good release technique. If you need info on the proper ways to release a trout, contact your local fly shop.

South Fork : The South Fork is fishing excellent and it shows by the number of boats on the river. Your best bet is to fish from the dam to Heise. Below Heise, the river warms up and the hatches will not be as significant. As for now there are plenty of nice fish on the riffles eating PMD’s and an occaisional stone or caddis in the evening. Keep in mind these fish see a LOT of flies and can be very picky. Pink or orange bodied PMD’s are the norm over there and size does matter. 18 – 22 is the ticket. Streamer fishing has slowed a bit but you can still pull some nice fish from the banks and out of the deep holes and runs. Don’t forget to fish the tailouts and side channels. There will likely be a boat on every riffle….riffles aren’t the only places to catch fish!

Check back for an update next week. Good fishing.

Andy