It’s April which means unpredictable weather and great fishing opportunities. We have a little more than a month (hopefully) until the high elevation snow starts to melt and render the Yellowstone out of service for a bit so make your fishing days count! Out fishing this past week you can tell the river is starting to come alive. With water temps in the mid 40’s for most of the day fish can be caught on a number of different tactics. Streamers stripped slowly has been pretty effective out there. Go to colors have been Black, Olive, and White. You can also try the super flashy tinsel type stuff on the killer bright days. The Kreelux has been one to turn to on those sunny days. Another option is the double nymph rig or your dry-dropper set up. Flipping over some rocks we have seen a good number of Baetis nymphs and some larger stone fly nymphs. The favorite this week was Brett’s Tung Golden Stone in sz 6 paired with a sz 20 black Copper John. Other good patterns were the split case BWO nymph in sz 18 and a sz 18 soft hackle baetis. You will still find fish in the deep spots but as the water warms you should find some in the tails of pools and at the head of riffles. If you are able to get into a baetis hatch which has been happening around 1:30 pm, fish your soft hackle baetis as a dry fly or throw a BWO transitional dun. Best results were on 5x. Make sure fish see the fly first and not your leader/fly line. Drop us a line with any questions. Now get fishing!
