Fly Fishing River Reports Archives - Page 3 of 20

Yellowstone River Mother’s Day Caddis Report – 05/04/12

Posted on May 5, 2012June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

Mother’s Day Caddis are here (again). We had a spectacular day on the Yellowstone River between Emigrant and Mallards Rest. The fishing was virtually nonexistent before 1 pm, but once the water temperature warmed up to that magic 50 degrees mark the Caddis came off in mass.

In the late afternoon, we lost count of the number of trout we landed but we estimated it at minimum 30. Needless to say, it was spectacular.

Our best technique was a small Convertible with a BH soft hackle as the short dropper.

Today is a much colder day but this should only extend the hatch into next week – so take some days off work and get out there!

Yellowstone River Fishing Report- 4/24/12

Posted on April 24, 2012June 27, 2022 by Eric Adams

Fishing/Weather/Water Conditions:

We’re seeing thousands of caddis flying around throughout Livingston and below the town. With that being said clarity has become a major problem as the river has gone up about 2000-3000 cfs just this week. I took a drive down to Big Timber yesterday searching for some rising fish along the way and didn’t find too much action. The warm weather is set to continue till Friday and then cool off for the weekend. We’re hoping the cool weather will stick around and clear up the river a little bit. You can keep an eye on the flow here: USGS Stream Data-Yellowstone River If you notice the flow going down head on over because the fishing can be great!

Hatches:

Mostly seeing Caddis and March Browns with a mix of Midges and Baetis as well.

Flies and Fishing Strategies:

Nymphs – Black Copper John’s (14-16), BH Hare’s Ear (12-14), CDC BH Prince (12-16), Partridge & Pheasant Soft Hackle (12-16), Tungsten Zebra Midge (16-18), Dirty Bird (16-18), Birds Nest (16-18)
Dries – Hi Viz Griffith’s Gnat (16-18), Hi Viz Parachute Baetis (16), March Brown Cripple (12-14), Parachute March Brown (14), Royal Wulff (12-14) Elk Hair Caddis (12-16) Goddard Caddis (14-16) X-Caddis (12-16) Streamers – J.J. Special, Black/Olive Zonker, Olive/Black Sex Dungeon, Black Lead-Eye Sparkle Bugger. Anything big and bright is a good call in the off color water.

Yellowstone River Fishing Report – 04/21/12

Posted on April 21, 2012June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

Fishing/Weather/Water Conditions:

Today I had the rare opportunity to fish with my lovely girlfriend Chelsea on the Yellowstone River. The weather was 65 degrees and sunny with a 10 – 15 mph upstream wind, which made things cooler than the temperature would suggest. However, the MOTHER’S DAY CADDIS HATCH is ON! We put on the water about 12 PM and by about 3 PM the caddis started. Now, this isn’t the full-blown caddis hatch, but just the beginning trickle. Today Chels caught several nice fish up to 16″ and we expect the hatch to build the next couple days and the larger fish to start taking notice. Tomorrow it should climb to 77 degrees with a light west wind so we predict full-blown caddis by 2 or 3 PM tomorrow afternoon. GET OUT THERE!

Hatches:

CADDIS! There are also some March Browns, Baetis (on the cloudy days) and midges. There should be caddis tomorrow so concentrate on emergers and pupae before the hatch.

Fishing Techniques:

Don’t worry about hitting the water too early in the day, 11 AM is plenty early. Concentrate on caddis pupae/larva in the early part of the day and by Noon-ish make sure you have a caddis emerger on at least one of your flies. By 2 or 3 PM you should start seeing some adults, but the trout will probably still take the emerger quite well.

Yellowstone River Fishing Report – 04/20/12

Posted on April 20, 2012June 2, 2022 by Eric Adams

Fishing/Weather/Water Conditions:

Another great Spring fishing day on the Yellowstone River. We had the great fortune of fishing with a couple from Texas yesterday. We landed about 30 trout during the day. While most of the trout were between 12 – 15 inches we did land several nice Rainbows in the 16+ inch class. The weather was cloudy with light wind. Water visibility was a good 2 to 3 feet with good greenish clarity.

Hatches:

Baetis and midges were present throughout the day. By 3 PM we had a prolific Baetis hatch which lasted about an hour. During this time we saw trout feeding on emergers and duns (dries). We also saw a few March Brown’s, but not enough to be significant.

Fishing Techniques:

We are definitely still doing best with our short leash nymph rig, where the flies are 2 to 4 feet below the small indicator. There are however starting to be more rising trout, so having a rigged dry fly rod handy would be a good idea.