Fishing Report

Warming weather the past couple days made a quick change to the river conditions. A majority of the lower elevation “valley” snow melted in a hurry and results are pretty evident that the river is up significantly and off color. In a way this could be a good thing though. Moderating temps in the coming days should stabilize things and the river will clean up again. With the low snow gone, and unless is dumps again, we should be able to have a nice prolonged late April push right into caddis time with solid fishing!

River conditions looking good this weekend. It’s a Baetis kind of day! Low hanging clouds and doesn’t look to warm up all that much. High 40s but the wind isn’t supposed be cranked up. We’ve seen plenty of that as of late. Look for midges to be the first bugs you’ll see. Fish might get on them pretty good in the foamy back eddies. Otherwise it will be sometime in the afternoon that the blue winged olives might start up. Water temps are still chilly so look for your best fishing to be in the slow, deep, off-speed runs at […]

It’s now April and Yellowstone River fishing has been pretty darn good lately. There’s been some fish on the deep nymph rigs- slow and offspeed water with 5-7feet of depth. And there’s been some fish on streamers. I like the medium sized ones. Not the ones as big as your cousin’s springer spaniel with 4 sets of lead eyes and 2 stinger hooks trailing off the back that takes a 9 weight and Arnold Schwarzenegger to cast. Even for an hour. Yeah, right! Like that’s really the ticket…. No, I like you know, normal size streamers.Ones that even a normal […]

Nice weather break this week has turned into good fishing opportunities! A few guides have been finding themselves on the oars again with positive results. Dodging winter weather fronts has been an ongoing issue. One that may actually stick around for a little bit yet. Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll have to see. In the meantime, hardy spring anglers are being rewarded for their efforts. Shorts, flip-flops, and sunscreen are still a long ways off. Being prepared for just about any kind of inclement weather is a definite must! You will likely have to put up with some cold stripping fingers, […]

It’s been cold here. Real cold. Again. Late February is getting long in the tooth and we’re all getting a little cooped up. Doesn’t look like fishing the river is really an option right now. In fact, up and down the valley, a lot of the boat ramps are still very much iced up and unusable. Carter’s bridge access is doable. Pine Cr has a big snowdrift on the ramp. But at Mallards and especially Loch Leven, there’s multiple feet of glacier like ice jammed on the banks. Grey Owl access is actually OK and from there upstream to the […]

Happy New Year. Yes, it’s a bit wintery here! Wishing we were somewhere warm, a bit of sand between the toes and a tropical rum drink in hand? Yep. Is it going to happen? Probably not. Think I’ll just read about it in the new issue of the Drake and be spending a lot of time at the fly tying desk! Shop is closed for now. Back in early March. See y’all then.

Halloween is tomorrow and today’s looking like that last day of the season. Feeling fortunate tha I’ve been closing out the year with these guys for over a dozen years in a row. Tradition. And it doesn’t look like things will change anytime soon. Already booked for next year. Same time, same place!

Happy Friday the 13th. Glad this young bull moose decided to stay right where he was! We were on the Upper Madison somewhere around Varney Bridge and coming out of a sidechannel with a fast, narrow chute of water that squirted us literally right in front of this guy. Fishing has been tough all day. But we sure enjoyed the solitude on the water and opportunity to literally run into some of Montana’s wonderful wildlife

Max Yzaguirre Sr showing us how to get things done in early October! Finally a bit of a break from the wet and cold dreariness is taking place. Low pressure, rain and snow are being replaced with high pressure, sun, and relative warmth once again. And it’s a welcome change! I can’t recall having that much cold, wet weather in September in a really long time…. I’m sure snotty weather will creep back in, but for now, feels good to have the sun back. Even if it does make for tougher fishing. So, yeah, the sun— we like it, fishy’s […]

Feels like fall has decided to make its presence known. Heck, maybe even early winter! Gone are the days of fishing without waders and a good jacket. Might not see them again until next year. Sunny, warm weather has been replaced by overcast skies, cold temps and snow, especially in the mountains. Fishing has been good for those who are willing to hang tough out there! Definitely a late morning through middle afternoon gig. Daily blue winged olives as well as Fall Drake mayfly activity has the Yellowstone trout on the feedbag. Prior to the hatch, nymphing is getting fish […]