Questions about Yellowstone

[jimswanson]

Didn't want to hijack the other thread, so

Sometime in the next two years, I want to head out to Yellowstone. I have 13 different fly fishing rigs, from 3wt to 10wt, no 7 wt though. What would be the recommended outfits for fishing out there? Everything 5 wt and up are 9', except the 8' 5wt bamboo rod. Thanks.

Jim

[turvy]

Wish I could help with your question but I haven't gotten out there yet. However, as long as you have some time I would recommend you read "Trout" by Ray Bergman. It's a classic book and will make you want to find some of the holes he fished many, many years ago. Enjoy!!!

[Longs for Cutts]

The bamboo will only be useful on some smaller streams. Longer rods are better most places both for line control and for casting with wind.

A 9' 4-weight and a 9' 6 weight will do most things. A five can be useful with bigger dries on the meadow streams where the six is a bit heavy. Some people will say a five is all you need including for driftboat use, but I cringe when my clients show up with fives for floating, and except when we're fishing BWO most wind up using my spare 6. If you come in the fall and plan on fishing shooting heads and monster streamers, the 8 will help.

Floating line on the four, floating, type IV-VI tips (or equivalent mini-tip leaders), and type IV full sink on the 6. The floater will get 90% of the use.

[Dr. Fish]

I have been lucky enough to get out to Yellowstone to fish 4 years now and love it. My go to set ups are as follows.

9.5' for 5WT
10' for 6WT
10' for 7WT (for real windy days)
6.5' 3WT (for the close quarters streams) a bonus, not essential gear

I'm using a good WF floating line on each rod. On the 7WT outfit I have a spare spool with a clear intermediate sinking tip in case I want to get down in one of the ponds or lakes. This will allow me to fish every piece of water in the park and be able to handle any wind which is common.

[jimswanson]

Wow, that was quick. Thanks for the info.

Forgot to ask, what kind of leaders will I be needing? I've only fished eastern trout in smaller streams, so I've got a ton of size 16 and smaller flies. Any real go to flies and sizes? Thanks.

Jim

[Longs for Cutts]

The Trip Planner at www.parksflyshop.com has a lot of this information.

Flies will generally be larger here. BWO and PMD are the notable exceptions. The time of year you come will play heavily into what you need. In late July on the Yellowstone I'll very rarely fish a fly smaller than a 14, with #6-12 more common, while on the same river in October I'll have my clients use a 16 Trude as the lead fly with an 18-20 BWO or midge behind it, then have them try a 5" long streamer on the 7 weight when fish aren't rising.

Leaders range from 3' of 12lb Maxima for streamer fishing to 12' 6X on some spooky fish water in the fall. For most of the year we use 7.5' 2-4X leaders on the steeper streams and rivers or when fishing hoppers and 9' 3-5X leaders on the meadow streams. Some shops suggest you need 15-18' leaders to catch fish here, but I think they mostly do this to sell their custom 15-18' leaders --I've never used longer than 12' and have never felt the lack of something longer. I don't carry lighter than 5X until early September at least. I did not use 7X at all last year, and in many places 7X is a recipe for dead fish, as a 2lb cutt doesn't need to do more than turn sideways in medium-fast water to make a 2 minute fight on 4-5X into a 15 minute fight on 7X.

[jeffnles1]

My son and I went there last summer and had a blast. I took a 9' 5wt and a 9' 4wt. These two rods covered everything I needed to do from the Madison to small creeks like Blacktail Deer creek. I'm kind of a small stream lover so I used the 4wt more than the 5wt. I used the 5 on a float trip down the madison and it did just fine. Wind can be strong out there but on really windy days, we hit the small streams where a 30' cast was overkill.

The only time I wished I had my 7wt was one day on the Firehole river. The wind was pretty strong and I seemed to be able to get no closer than about 50' from the risers. I managed a few fish on the 5wt but the 7 would have been easier to cast. We ended up heading to Nez Perce creek a few miles away, hit a huge caddis hatch and caught little rainbows and browns until we were tired of catching fish and headed back to the hotel.

I used 5X leaders and tippet most of the time. I went down to 6X on the Gibbon Meadow section but probably could have done OK with the 5X. I didn't see any need for 7X although I had some with me.

Stealth pays off out there. Keep a low profile, don't splash around in the water and fish the seams and undercut banks. Check the local fly shops while there to find out what is working on which streams. Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in West Yellowstone is a great shop. So is Parks Fly Shop in Gardiner.

While we were there, the hot ticket for streams were Firehole in the evenign caddis hatch, Nez Perce Creek, Blacktail Deer Creek and the Madison. Most of the fish we caught were in Blacktail Deer Creek (brookies) and Nez Perce Creek (rainbows and browns). The biggest fish were in in the Madison. My son landed a 20+ inch brown and I brought in a rainbow that was just shy of 20".

Yellowstone truly is one of those places you have to see before you die. Whenever I'm feeling down, I pull up my photos and they take me to a happy place.

Jeff

[DShock]

Jim,
Here is just one of the Rivers that you can check out:

http://www.backcountryangler.com/ima...20Reynolds.jpg

http://www.troutwranglers.com/app/we...otos%20139.jpg

http://www.mrfc.com/MadisonRiverMont...disonBrown.jpg

http://www.mrfc.com/MadisonRiverMont...ownMadison.jpg

http://www.mrfc.com/MadisonRiverMont..._MikeBrown.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cdRBRgORCe...on%2BRiver.jpg

http://www.montanatrout.com/images/P...son%20HOF1.jpg

http://www.montanatrout.com/images/P...2%20footer.jpg

http://www.reflectionsofnaturegaller...iver-Bison.jpg

http://www.kentakataphotography.com/...wmadbridge.jpg

http://image61.webshots.com/161/0/60...7gCpuCV_fs.jpg

Madison River Fly: Serendipity: http://www.riverbum.com/images/produ...range-side.jpg

Doug

[FlyFlinger]

Jim, I certainly defer to Longs, since he is a professional guide, but I have been fortunate enough to make 6 trips to Yellowstone. My choices of gear have evolved, based on my experiences. If I am going to fish Yellowstone rivers and streams while wading, my most useful choices have been an 8.5' 4-wt for most circumstances, and a 9' 5-wt where I needed more "muscle." A couple of trips have included guided float trips; I take a 9' 6-wt for those times.

My leader choices have mostly been 4x and 5x, and 9' or sometimes shorter. I amost always use floating lines, but I take a sinking shooting head for the lakes (Yellowstone, Trout, etc.).

All of my trips have been in early fall, so terrestrials are the predominant choice of fly, and a hopper-dropper combination works very well. But a fly I would not have chosen unless advised by a guide is a large Adams (#10 or larger), which imitates the green drake. It worked great!

Lots of luck, and enjoy your trip (the planning is almost as much fun as the trip itself).