A friend of mine and I finished the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park today, which was the opening day of the season there.
This was by far the best fishing we have experienced there in a number of years. We not only caught many fish, but on the average they were larger than the typical 17" to 18" cookie cutter Cutthroat we caught there a number of years back. We each caught multiple fish over 20" long, a couple of which I believe weighed around 6 pounds or more.
Better still, we caught fish from several years’ age classes, which makes me think that all of the work and effort being put in to control the lake trout in Yellowstone Lake is having some positive impact.
I know that one good day of fishing doesn’t prove anything, but after watching the continual decline of this once wonderful fishery over the past few years, it sure looks like the corner may have been finally turned, and things are on the upswing.
Nice to hear that. We were on Fishing Bridge a few weeks ago and I wanted to show my wife some of the big cutts that hang out around there, but there was too much wind to get any clear sightings.
Most of the time we were using a 2 fly setup, with a Stimulator and a BH Flashback Pheasant Tail, with about half of the fish caught on each fly. There was also a brief time in the middle of the day when the fish were taking spinners, so we switched to, and caught fish on Rusty Spinners.
We fished between Hayden Valley and the Lake, whatever distance that is.
Scott -
My wife and I drove through the Park on Sunday, but we didn’t stop at Fishing Bridge because of all the traffic. Since there are more fish in the river below the Lake this year than there have been in the past few years, I’d have to believe you’d be able to see some fish from the bridge. However, even with the crystal clear and lower than normal water levels this year, these fish were still pretty hard to see where we were fishing.
Great photo of Combat Fishing, something I have no desire to do. We get that around here when the salmon are running (has anyone seen a salmon run? Didn’t know they had feet). Larry —sagefisher—
