Yellowstone River Fishing Report July 15th, 2019
The Yellowstone River is still continuing to drop and the river is starting to fish well! The last week and half we have had lots of bug activity as the water continues to clear up. Although the Salmonflies have moved well into the Yellowstone National Park boundaries, there is still plenty of opportunity to catch fish on top. Caddis have been coming off consistently throughout the day and especially in the later parts of the day. Be sure to have your Elk Hair Caddis, Blooms Caddis, CDC Caddis and similar variations in sizes #16-12 in tan and olive. The Chocolate Caddis aren’t as thick as we had last week but are still lingering around. PMDs are hanging in there as well, they are beginning to wain but are still around. Similarly, we have been seeing Green Drakes throughout the day. Be sure to have you Parachute Adams variations and Green Drake patterns in size #12. Yellow Sallies have also been coming off throughout the day, be sure to have patterns in both nymph stage as well as adult stages to get trout to eat.
Larger attractor patterns have begun to do the trick as well. The Chubby Chernobyl hatch is starting to heat up and fish are looking to take advantage of a large meal when it comes around. Pteronarcys, black/purple, and olive in sizes #12-10 have been getting eats. Be sure to twitch those flies close to the bank and willows to really fire those trout up! Dropping attractor nymphs has been moving both whitefish and trout as well. Pats Rubberlegs #10-6, Prince Nymphs #14, Copper Johns #14-18, and Delektas Hammerheads #14-16 have been getting fish to the net when dropped under a dry fly.
With the lack of hot weather the last couple of weeks, we are still waiting for the long anticipated hoppers to arrive. Be sure to keep your eyes on the banks as much of the hay has been cut and the grasshoppers, crickets, beetles and ants are beginning make their way to the rivers edge and into the water. We still don’t expect that to really pick up for another week plus.
As usual for this time of year, be on the lookout for mud plugs and spikes on the graph. We have been getting flash storms in the evenings that have been dumping lots of water into the mountains. Feel free to give us a call here at the shop if you have any questions regarding river color and information on where mud plugs may be in the system.
We look forward to seeing you folks out on the river, come on by and we’ll be happy to set you up with the right flies and any other information you are looking for.