Fishing Reports

The Yellowstone River has been through some crazy times this summer with some record lows and a pretty hefty whitefish kill, but it is getting back into the swing of things now. Some friends and I went over and floated from town down about 13 miles with perfect weather for throwing streamers. It was kind of rainy and cloudy at first but the sun came out a little bit later and warmed it up a tad. we saw a few eagles before we set off, and that's always a good omen, so we knew we would see some fish. The streamer bite was most definitely on! We did see some nice big fish follow our flies all the way up to the boat and swat at them without total commitment. At least we were seeing them. The flies and colors that were the best where brown/yellow and olive/gold wool-head sculpin patterns. Yellow and brown are just really good fall spawning colors to throw. White was also a good color to throw in the articulated world as white is always right. Well, I hope you all are doing well and fishing your little @$$'$ off! May you all fish long and prosper! Happy Fishing!!! -DanG  

A special fishing report for you today focused on yes, you probably guessed it from the header, the YELLOWSTONE! Marty, Mary Rose and Skelly got it done and had themselves a memorable day. The Yellowstone River is really a special place to fish and if fished right with good conditions, the right flies and always a little bit of luck you have the chance to catch BIG fish. The conditions were good with water clarity moderately clear, which served well for streamers. The best luck was had very close to the banks in shallow water.  Marty's fly of choice was a Sculpzila JR (Olive) with a #20 Delektable Lil' Spanker Pheasantail trailing. The bites on either fly were about even, with some taking the streamer and others the nymph. Congrats to you both on your beautiful yet slobbish fish! Keep Throwing Darts! Will

If you were out on the Yellowstone River on the weekend of the 4^th, you would have seen the hatch was thick…with not only people on tubes and rafts, but also the Caddis hatch. The Delektable Royal Chubbyness was a good pick, but it was the Delektable Royal Halo that the fish seemed to key in on the most. Even though the people hatch was absolutely off the charts, you could still manage to get a decent cast in between all the boats to a hungry trout or two. That being said, the tail end of salmon fly and golden stone brings in the PMD’s and Caddis. As this summer moves on, you’ll notice that the bugs will become smaller and the need to change up your tactics will be crucial. DON’T forget about streamers while fishing the Yellowstone because the fish will enjoy a Sculpin on the menu. Here are some pics of Chip and Mary Rose guided by Marty on the Yellowstone.

Captain Marty and Jim went to the Yellowstone knowing that the wind was going to be up and that there may even be a storm blowing in. They took a chance and did the drive anyway. Jim had never been to the Yellowstone River and was in the process of knocking a bunch of Montana rivers off his list. They said that it was kind of slow but there were a few nice fish caught and that the river was a site to be seen! The storm blew in before they were done fishing, so they had to row out. The flies that were working were stone flies, caddis nymphs, BWO nymphs and lightning bugs. If you have never been to the "Stone" you might want to go check it out for yourself and see what a great fishery it is! Happy Fishing!!!                                   -DanG

Captain Marty was guiding Todd and Richard on the Yellowstone and it was good! Great fishing, great storm and a great drive back:) They caught some nice fish on these bugs: a big one, and some smaller ones:) Happy Fishing!!!         -DanG                   

The Yellowstone River!!! What a sick river! I wish I could fish it more, but that is not the case. I did however make it over there this past weekend with by good friend, Gervaise, to check it out and see whats going on. Big dries like Chubbies and golden stones were working on the upper section, while streamers were working much better towards the end of the float each day. We did Carbella to Emigrant on Saturday and Point of Rocks to Emigrant on Sunday. We were getting them on articulated black and natural colors in the morning, and if you weren’t there early you might have missed the morning streamer bite. It shut off around 8:30 or 9am for us. Size 10 and 12 dries under the banks and willows were doing real good next. We fished big dries catching lots of nice cutthroat in the side channels, shelves and banks. With the river coming down, the banks are being cut out real nice. Sidenote: Watch out for falling trees!!! Wow… we almost got killed by a falling 60 ft cottonwood. It started falling as we were under it and we rowed forward to avoid it as quickly as possible getting missed by about 20-30 yards when it did go. SPLASHHH!!! We did not nymph at all, and that was by choice :). We were kinda set on hookin’ a pig on a streamer, so we fished those most of the day. Some nice browns and some awesome colored cutty’s made the trip well worth it!  Happy Fishing!!! DanG