Slough Creek

Looking for info, comments, experiences, and flies used on the slough (last week of August).

First vs second vs third meadow?

Also, I have to ask the tourist question... any issues with the bears. Big deal if you hike in solo?

Thank you.

I have just two experiences with Slough Creek.

The first was perhaps 20+ years ago. I parked at the trail head and "hiked" in to the first meadow. I caught fish and had a wonderful time. I saw just a hand full of anglers.

The second was some years later...12-14 maybe. They had built a parking lot at the trail head. It was full of cars......I drove on and fished the Lamar.

Boy do I sound terrible with this, but, really, we didn't find that stream so 'delightful.' More like something the corp. of engineers would have developed. Mostly like fishing in a drainage ditch. The fish were there, seemed very stupid and way too easy to catch. I'm not sure why it gets so much 'press,' maybe it's that it is a place where even 'outdoor writers' can catch trout. A lot of guides walk dudes in to it; pays well. :idea:

I have to agree with the previous posts that Slough Creek gets a lot of use - too much most of the time. It is a fairly easy place to catch fish, though not any easier or more difficult than other park streams with Yellowstone cutthroat in them. Any of the meadows, and even the river below the meadows, are good places to fish.
As for bears, you should take appropriate precautions anywhere in the park - i.e. make lots of noise, carry bear spray. You have better chances of being hit by lightning than a bear harming you. Hiking alone is not the best idea, not only because of the bears, though the Slough Creek meadow hikes are relatively easy and heavily travelled.
As for flies that will work in August - you'll catch fish with caddis or rubber leg attractors, like a Turck tarantula in smaller sizes (8-12). These cutthroats aren't difficult to catch despite some folks' magazine articles to the contrary.

hiking in to the 2nd meadow will take an bout an hour and a half. it does not get as much pressure ,obviously as the 1st meadow or the water below the parking lot.The third meadow generally is for overnighters or if you pack in on a horse. I've fished the 1st meadow one time but the 2nd over a dozen times. hoppers, horseflys,caddis will produce. E-mail me for some other fly suggestions.
Have seen a number of bear in there in August,never any problems. Once you're over the mountain it's an easy hike to the 2nd meadow.
have fun.
best,
Steve

Fished Slough Creek this past Sunday. Parked in the third lot at around 6am and we were the only anglers. We hiked the trail that runs along the river (more scenic and cooler in the shade) instead of the dirt wagon trail. Only took us 40 minutes to get to the first meadow eventough we stopped to photograph some wildlife along the way. I was amazed that we had the entire first meadow to ourselves until around 11am and then it was only a couple anglers. When we started back at around 2:30 I think there was a total of maybe 6 anglers that we could see.

Caught plenty of fish up to 17" all on dries. Most on various hopper patterns. Did the best with my hopper found here http://flyanglersonline.com/about/mustad/hopper.html. Also caught fish on CDC Caddis in size 18.

I enjoyed the day. As JC mentioned, the fish were not all that bright but I have yet to see too many fish in the park that are. The area is nice, especially the waters below the first meadow as the river pounds down through a large boulder field. We did not see any bears BUT there were fresh cougar tracks on the bank and they were from a LARGE cat.

My suggestion would be to show up at the parking area around first light and hike in early. Never fished second meadow as we had no reason to go any further.

I lived in Montana for a few years,,, never saw any SMALL cat tracks!

I was there in mid July and was nearly eaten alive by deer flies. The Yellowstone drainage is increasingly non fishable due to rain and run off although Lamar is more prone to this than Slough. This problem has apparantly gotten progressively worse in recent years and one local believes that the cutthroat throughout the Yellowstone are suffering both in size and numbers. Slough was off color the day I was there but the flies were more of a limit than the water. The same local fisherman who had described the run off problems related a story about being charged by a buffalo two summers ago on the Slough. He escaped by running emiting a trail of bear spray and jumping over an embankment into the creek. The moral is take your bug and bear spray and give the buffalo wide birth.

The skeeters and biting flies were pretty thick on Sunday but with a good bug spray they gave up for the most part. Once the wind picked up it made it even better.

Slough is one that can run muddy with a storm and the Lamar can run mud if so much as one drop of rain hits it : )

Don't waste one single second of your time fishing the Yellowstone River inside the park. Between the Lake Trout and the Whirling Disease, the Yellowstone River inside the park is nearly dead. It's sad as this was one heck of a fishery just a few years back but those days are now over. That being said, the Yellowstone is FANTASTIC fishing from Gardiner downstream, especially Corwin Springs to Point of Rocks. Lots of very respectable sized Cutts eager to plow a hopper on top.

Respect the wildlife and give them a very wide berth and you will have no problems.

Unlike many of these gentleman I fished slough creek last year and it was one of the best fishing days I have ever had. For me at least there isn't anything much better than being on a beautiful meadow stream with trout rising to dries. In fact I am going back in a couple of weeks.
You should check out the fish report on blue ribbon flies in West Yellowstone. It will say which patterns have been working.

I am somewhat intrigued by Hoosierhacklers' comments regarding runoff. Runoff in the NE part of the park is normal in late-June to mid-July, and since those rivers are not dammed, it can be significant. The bugs at that time of year are normal also. Not sure who would have told you that runoff has been progressively worse as of late, I can't believe that is the case, other than the fact the entire area has been in drought the past 5 years or so. This past year, the snowpack and resulting runoff in June and July were more like non-drought years - or the normal for that area. The fish in the park do not suffer because of the runoff - they've experienced this since before any human went into the park and have done just fine. Whirling disease, non-native species, and too many people fishing do far more damage to the fish than the runoff.

Cea sees the area with the eyes of a Montanan. I see the Yellowstone streams on my way from Indiana to Seattle in July and in September on my return to the midwest. For those unfamiliar with the northeast of the park they should know that the window of fishability may be quite short and often fluctuates. For someone considering negotiating the traffic of Yellowstone in the summer a check on the conditions of the Slough before setting out may prevent a substantial waste of time. I too was intrigued by the impression of the runoff problem as clearly it is not confined to recent times only. In talking with several fisherman they felt that the size of the fish in Lamar and Slough has decreased significantly in recent years. A conversation with some limnologists from Penn State working in the park suggested a significant change in numbers and size in the Yellowstone system. To ascribe this to one variable is indeed rather simplistic but my fishing contacts had an impression rightly or not that the changing nature of the streams was to blame. Of concern however was the early impression of the limnologists that the decline evident in the Park was also progressing up the Paradise Valley. Time and further data will confirm this more accurately, but clearly the effects of pressure, drought, whirling disease, and mud have not been kind to these great waters.

I suggest Chernobles or any hopper imitation, copper johns, bead head pheasant tails, all the normal nymphs for droppers. Caddis flys are ususally good too.

The Big boys are real deliberate on the take, so try not to set too fast. Let them eat it then hit them back.

The second meadow gets a good deal of the traffic because everybody thinks the first meadow will be too crowded. the first meadow can look empty sometimes.

The third meadow separates the pack pretty well and its worth the trip.

Here's a link to story I did few years ago on my expereience on Slough Creek.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/feature ... part7.html :D


Good Luckjavascript:emoticon(':D')
Very Happy

Thanks everyone for the info. Certainly look forward to giving it a go.