Matching the Hatch

Yellowstone National Park- Firehole River- This river is too warm and is not recommended for fishing. Gibbon River- The best times of the day are from 9-11am and from 6:30pm-dark. Small attractors like a royal wulff or a grizzly wulff in a size 14 are great patterns for the aggresive browns. Keep in mind, dropping a pheasant tail or a prince nymph behind one of these dries can be deadly. Madison River- Madison has been fishing well with an adams irresistible and a san juan worm trailing it. Terrestrials or nymphing is advised mid day. Many of the wild trout are looking for a red and black ant, more so than a hopper. Yellowstone Lake- The best fishing is still from a boat or float tube with a size 6 or 8 woolly bugger. Black and orange have been favorable colors. Most of the fisherman that fish the lake are not going to catch many fish, but one or two big ones. Yellowstone River- Fly fishing has been great when there are PMD's coming off in the morning. We have heard reports of cuts still coming up to golden stones and salmonflys. This river isn't advised for novice fisherman, simply because many of the trout require a long cast with deep wading to reach them. Lamar Valley- The valley is currently blown out from all the recent storms we have been having. I would expect it to clear up within the next 3 days if we don't get anymore rain showers. Montana Gallatin- Caddis hatches have been sporatic as of lately on the Gallatin. Calm sunny evenings have been producing the largest caddis hatches. This river is a great nymphing river, so if there aren't any hatches coming off, don't be afraid to use an indicator and two nymphs. Any caddis puppae work great throughout the whole river, also if mayflies are hatching, flahback pheasant tails have been doing the trick. Hebgan- Calibaetis hatches have been hit and miss for most dry fly fisherman looking to catch a few gulpers. If the wind stays down long enough, dry fly fishing can be great for those who wish to chase those cruising trout. A pheasant tail is always a smart dropper in a size 14 or 16 off of the calibaetis dry. When the hatch subsides, dark woolly bugger patterns still attract those healthy rainbows and browns. Between Hebgan and Quake- Caddis and rusty spinners are coming off in the evenings in decent numbers. Hoppers and ants have been working mid day along with a small black beetle. Nymphing always catches fish, a lot of them being white fish. Streamers in an olive color just might move a few sizeable browns from the river's deep holes. Below Quake- Rusty spinners has been the best dry fly in the wade section during the evenings. Cinnamon colored ants also work very well mid day when there is some light cloud cover. Red serendipities in a size 14 is a great nymph to drop off of your dry. Idaho Henry's Lake- We are still waiting for the water to warm up to 70 degrees, and when that happens, I would expect the fishing to pick up tremendously. The water temperature is currently ranging from 65-67. Woolly buggers are always a great pattern for this lake, especially in olive. -Dillon Given <