Welcome to Montana Fly Fishing Guides

Excerpts from THE ANGLING REPORT November 2006 Vol. 19, No.11
“SERVING THE ANGLER WHO TRAVELS” - Richard G. Lyons
From the main entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana, the Yellowstone River flows north to Livingston before turning east. This is Paradise Valley, and just about every one of the 50-odd miles in this stretch
offers great fishing against a backdrop of spectacular canyon or mountain scenery. Over the Labor Day weekend, courtesy of The Angling Report’s FREE Fishing Program, a friend and I were fortunate enough to spend three
nights and two days here, fishing from Yellowstone Valley Ranch (YVR), the only lodge in the valley dedicated to fishing.
Prior to our visit, I’d spoken and exchanged e-mails with Paul Robertson, YVR’s manager, about where we should fish. For those of you not familiar with this area, in late August and early September there’s usually good
fishing on four or five world-class rivers, several of these rivers’ tributaries and a couple of high country lakes, and that’s not counting private water or Yellowstone National Park, either of which could easily entertain the
pickiest angler for a week or two. While I’d mentioned to Robertson that Nelson’s Spring Creek (a Yellowstone tributary) was my favorite fishing venue in the world, and that I’d always done well on the Yellowstone, I
stressed that our guide should select our itinerary based on experience and current conditions. Maybe to please me, maybe because I guessed right, we floated the Yellowstone on Friday and stalked on Nelson’s on Saturday.
Eric Adams of Montana Fly [Fishing] Guides was our guide and is YVR’s director of fishing, a year-round position that I’ll say more about later. He chose a stretch of the Yellowstone just upstream from the ranch, from the 26 Mile Marker to Grey Owl, an eight-mile float. Adams joined us at breakfast to discuss our day. He’d fished this stretch the day before and reported that the recent cold evenings had effectively closed hopper season on the river but that it still offered excellent opportunities for dry fly fishing from put-in to take-out.
So it proved to be. Even though rising fish were spotted only sporadically from our nine o’clock launch through our 5:30 take-out, we had consistent strikes on attractors (most successful: a parachute rat-faced McDougall) and pseudos. The action and the size of the fish eren’t spectacular; however, the fishing – and catching - were great. Neither of us went long enough without a strike to become bored, but the strikes weren’t so frequent nor the risers so obvious as to allow either of us to relax on any cast. Adams made the fishing much easier on us by using a skiff with much lower sides than the MacKenzie-type drift boat I’ve used so many times in the past. The lower sides allow easy casts while seated, a real relief to my friend Debbie, who has a bad back, and a welcome break for anyone. These boats are handmade by a Montanan [Montana Boat Builders] and have become so popular that the shipwright now has a one-year backlog.
Over the years, I’ve fished with many guides on many rivers, and I’ve never (really!) had a bad one. Adams, though, ranks among the very best. No flash, but quiet competence, unlimited patience, great knowledge of the river, and a wonderful teacher. I can’t recall that he ever raised his voice. His patience particularly came through when he helped Debbie improve her skill at setting the hook. Adams employs several other guides, all with at least several years’ experience in Paradise Valley, so even if the Ranch is fully booked (18 guests) everyone can fish.
The second day we fished the creek. Any day on Nelson’s is a treat. This narrow spring creek winds for about a mile through the Nelson ranch on the east side of the Yellowstone. Its pools, sloughs, nooks and crannies hold many large, visible trout; 14 inches is a normal fish. In the background are the Absaroka Mountains, on this day obscured by windblown smoke from nearby forest fires but normally majestic whenever you look up. The fish in the Nelson’s see many imitations and often refuse naturals that aren’t the exact size of whatever is hatching. Usually, the fish just cruise serenely under your fly without even an upward glance, even to a perfectly presented tiny fly matched exactly to the hatch on 7x tippet. This Saturday was typical of a sunny day on Nelson’s, as frustrating as it was fun.
Nelson’s does have reliable hatches, however, and we tossed size 20 and 22 midge and baetis in the morning and sulphurs in the afternoon, aided occasionally with a floating nymph trailer. A steady upstream wind complicated the fishing considerably. Adams taught me a good lesson for fishing in these conditions. An upstream wind slows down the floating naturals but not a fly fished upstream that’s anchored to a line weighted with a hook, and the educated fish at Nelson’s can tell the difference. A downstream cast reduces this differential just enough to fool a fish now and
then. With my seven foot, 4-weight rod, any cast directly into the breeze was an automatic puddle cast, and with them I was the only angler on the creek catching fish. Strikes were occasional but steady throughout the day, and at
day’s end I landed a gorgeous rainbow that made me forget all those ignorant fish that paid me no mind. A wonderful day.
My friend and I will remember this trip for the ranch as much as for the fishing...

- Richard G. Lyons

The remainder of the article has been left out due to the fact that Yellowstone Valley Ranch is not longer operating as a guest ranch.