Hopper time on the Yellowstone!

Nice cutthroat caught on Red Lodge Creek last week. Ate a hopper.

Channel Cat caught at Twin Bridges on the Yellowstone last week. Ate a green wooly bugger.

Here’s Lindsay with a nice rainbow. If you look closely, you can see Pat in the background. You can stop hounding me to post a pic of you, Pat.

The Yellowstone has dropped significantly in the last 10 days. The riffles are becoming more prominent. Fish are still stacked up in the riffle heads, but the bank water is starting to fish as well. Hoppers are working well, but chose a pattern that also imitates a stonefly pretty well. Madam X, the Otter Hopper, Fat Frank, etc. are working better than a true hopper right now. Any beadhead dropped off the hook is picking up fish as well.

The Stillwater was red hot on Friday. Not much action on top, but the beadhead was killin’ it. Lindsay caught 17 fish (her count, not mine). Pat caught at least that many. A beadhead hare’s ear worked best in my boat.

First Yellowstone Trip of the Season

Margaret won first, biggest and most. Three dollars won’t break you, Bill!

Fishing Season is in full swing on the Stillwater River

We had a great week fishing the upper Stillwater River. Flows are continuing to drop, but the lower sections are still a bit high and dirty. Float fishing from Cliff Swallow to Johnson’s bridge is very good on yellow humpies, stimulators, Jack Cabe, etc. The winning beadhead droppers are the green copper john and flashback pheasant tail. Streamer fishing has been spotty. Look for the lower river to start producing as the water drops this week. PMD’s are hatching on cloudy evenings.

The Yellowstone is starting to turn on. Still high, but coming down fast. The streamer is producing best, with an olive wooly bugger the big winner. Look for fish in the riffle heads. The ‘Stone is trying to throw a PMD hatch, but it’s very sporadic.

Rock Creek is still a bit high for wading, but fish are beginning to take small rubber leg drys, like a madam x.

The mountain lakes are mostly ice free. Try an Adams if you see risers. Any small streamer will produce.

Great day on the Stillwater

The Stillwater has dropped a bit and the fishing has turned on! A yellow stimulator caught nice fish all day. Drop a pheasant tail off the hook and double your pleasure. The dropper got hammered today, too. Some of the nice riffles are starting to open up as the water drops.