Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing

13/06/2024

We expect the Boulder River to come into fishable shape approximately June 18, while the Yellowstone in Paradise Valley should follow June 20-21 absent heavy rain. Book your trips! We have a distressingly large amount of availability in late June and early July.

06/06/2024

Do you follow our fishing reports? You ought to! We updated both the general fishing report and many of the detailed reports today.

Livingston Montana fishing report courtesy Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing, the premier local outfitter for custom fly fishing trips.

03/06/2024

The Lower Madison isn't as good as the Yellowstone, but...

15/05/2024

If you read this page or our website (flyfishmontana.biz, reminder), you might know that we have an almost mystical reverence for what we call "runoff holes." These are breaks in the spring melt caused by several days of cold temperatures that slow the melt and cause the Yellowstone and especially the Boulder and Stillwater Rivers to drop into "green is good" shape for a few days. The big fish take advantage, though it's always a bit of a crapshoot to know if the rain will hold off enough for the water to clear.

Gamblers willing to hit the Madison if the Yellowstone/Boulder don't clean up REALLY ought to consider fishing during this window...

11/05/2024

Thar she blows! Warm, sunny weather for the past two days has started melting the recent low elevation snow and is pushing the Yellowstone River into runoff. While it's still clear enough you "could catch a fish out of it," we expect conditions to get worse instead of better. There are now many better fisheries, including the Boulder and Madison Rivers and all area lakes.

There's a small chance the Yellowstone will drop back into shape briefly within the next two weeks (NOAA is calling for the 8-14 day period to be cooler than normal), but even if this happens the window will be brief and the fish will be eating streamers and "junk" rather than the Mother's Day caddis, which will conclude hatching by the time the river comes in again.

The forecast temperatures for next week have dropped quite a bit from forecasts earlier in the week, so the rise into runoff will be slow. Note the predicted peak at Livingston is only about 6,500cfs. This is not the actual peak of runoff and is actually a great level for fishing when the river is clear. This slow rise is EXACTLY what we need to preserve water for summer. Early May and now mid-May have been exactly what we need to avoid the worst-case drought scenarious I have been ranting about all winter. If we can keep cooler and wetter than normal weather going through May, odds are we will be OKAY for late summer. Not ideal, but not catastrophically bad as things were looking even a couple weeks ago.

06/05/2024

Yesterday wound up being much cooler and cloudier than originally forecast, so we have not seen the big jump in flows forecast late last week. The Yellowstone River is likely to remain clear (at least green is good) all week. It's going to be cold/wet/nasty through Thursday, so this will be streamer and BWO weather.

Friday and Saturday are forecast to be much warmer, which should bring back one more surge of Mother's Day Caddis. I fished the top of Yankee Jim Canyon yesterday on foot with a Tenkara rod (I like tilting at windmills) and got around 25 trout and a few whitefish on Clacka Caddis (the pictured chewed-apart fly) and various caddis pupae. More than 2/3 of the trout ate the dry, so I eventually just took off the dropper.

The Yellowstone is likely to blow out into spring runoff for good Sunday the 12th, with lots of new low-elevation snow melting quick and followed by the high-elevation melt, since the long-range outlook after May 10 is calling for warmer-than-normal temperatures. Absent several days of cooler weather, the runoff will last roughly four weeks. So get after it now!

05/05/2024

Get your fishing in today, folks.

This is more like it, Montana.

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Great Falls MT
304 AM MDT Sun May 5 2024
..WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH
THURSDAY MORNING...

* WHAT...Heavy snow possible. Total snow accumulations between 1 and 2 feet possible. Winds could gust in excess of 50 mph at times.

* WHERE...Big Belt, Bridger and Castle Mountains and Snowy and
Judith Mountains.

* WHEN...From Tuesday morning through Thursday morning.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult to impossible. Those in the backcountry should ensure they have appropriate knowledge and gear and may want to consider alternate plans. Very strong winds could result in significant blowing snow and damage to trees and power lines.

04/05/2024

Yeahhhhhh... those of you with the time and means should book a float trip for the period encircled in red. Friday is probably the top pick. I'm already personally booked, but I have guides available!

Based on the current (very) long-range forecasts, the party will last through the 11th and start to fall apart on the 12th, with the entire Yellowstone muddy by the afternoon of the 13th or the morning of the 14th. The Boulder River will hang on longer.

01/05/2024

We've just posted our latest snowpack & runoff update and season fishing forecast over at our blog. We REALLY hate to sound like a broken record here, but we are hurting for water. The forecast cool and wet start to May will help - especially for anyone looking to get a float trip in before the heavy melt, hint hint - but we're now so far behind normal for snowpack that we're certain of extreme low, warm water in late summer this year.

The short version: come between mid-June and mid-July if possible for typical "calendar cover photo" fishing, if at all possible. The best fishing on the Yellowstone River for example is almost certainly going to occur in the second half of June and early July, versus late July and August. August is likely to see extreme low water, lots of 2:00 closures, wildfire smoke, and otherwise difficult conditions.

We would really appreciate it if visitors to this page would consider a guided trip between now and July 20. We expect a lot of sitting around twiddling our thumbs in August when we're usually guiding 6+ days a week, and our retirement plan isn't going to appreciate that...

Winter and early spring 2023-2024 have been warm and dry in Yellowstone Country, just like it has just about everywhere except California through Colorado. For a while we were flirting with record-low snowpack and the potential for a very short fishing season. After strong improvement from mid-Janua...

29/04/2024

I'd give a blood sacrifice to have this sort of forecast for the next four and a half months, especially from July 4 through Labor Day...

25/04/2024

The spring runoff appears to have begun on the Yellowstone River. While still clear (enough) in Livingston, it is chocolate milk in Gardiner and the entire river from Gardiner to Livingston and beyond will be too dirty to fish tomorrow. This is about ten days earlier than usual. In 2022, we held out until May 17...

It is possible we'll see the river drop into fishable shape again in a few days, as temps are forecast to be a bit lower. On the other hand, it looks to be rainy up to relatively high elevation, so that'll keep snow melting.

We now anticipate the Yellowstone River will likely drop out of the spring runoff sometime in the first half of June. The fishing will be best from this point until perhaps July 10. July 20 through Labor Day and beyond is likely to see record low water and widespread to universal fishing closures unless we have a cool, wet summer. Unfortunately, this is not forecast.

We can no longer in good conscience suggest planning a fishing trip in southwest Montana from July 20 through Labor Day, even though we may have to dip into our retirement savings this year to keep from losing our home given expected conditions...

19/04/2024

Here's our latest snowpack update and season fishing forecast. Unfortunately, a warm start to April has reduced our snowpack numbers when they should still be increasing. On top of a dry winter, this means we are now basically certain to have drastically low water for much of the prime summer and early fall season.

We STRONGLY encourage potential clients and solo anglers who follow this page to come at least a couple weeks earlier than usual this year. The best fishing will generally be from sometime in mid-late June until sometime in mid-late July. The first three weeks of August are likely to be very grim, with many drought-related fishing restrictions.

Full details:

Winter and early spring 2023-2024 has been warm and dry in Yellowstone Country, just like it has just about everywhere except California through Colorado. For a while we were flirting with record-low snowpack and the potential for a very short fishing season. After strong improvement from mid-Januar...

09/04/2024

Learn about the upcoming winter (November through mid-May) fly fishing opportunities in and near Yellowstone Park!

https://flyfishmontana.biz/winter-fishing-in-yellowstone-park/

(We hustled to get this page up, and yes, it's so that we hopefully jump to the top of the Google rankings. We don't mind guiding in the cold...)

Winter fishing in Yellowstone offers low crowds and great fishing due to geyser-heated water and trout spawning runs. Guided trips available!

07/04/2024

It's official: Yellowstone National Park is opening some waters to year-round fishing beginning May 25. This is the first time in many decades year-round fishing will be available in the park.

The Madison River from the WY/MT state line (near the Barns Pools) and more importantly for us the Gardner River from Osprey Falls to the Yellowstone River confluence will officially be open year-round starting May 25.

The Gardner River will be one of the best winter and spring wade-fisheries in the Rocky Mountain West. Due to the influence of the Boiling River hot spring, this water never gets too cold for trout and insects to remain active, and the late winter and early spring rainbow run rivals the fall brown trout run, without the crowds.

We will be offering SUBSTANTIAL discounts for brave anglers who want to plan a December-March ski/fish trip or and April-May shoulder season fishing trip. Details will appear on our website in the next few weeks, along with a winter fishing page and edits to other pages.

This might well revolutionize our business: fifteen trips a year between November and April inside YNP is a Roth IRA contribution for the year, or the payment on a new truck...

Here's the NPS news release:

04/04/2024

Apparently we still remember how to do this. The Yellowstone River float season is underway.

01/04/2024

Snowpack has continued its SLOW upward movement since our last update on expected conditions. We want this to continue. Things are looking better for late July through mid-September than they were, but we would still like more snow to ensure cold, fast water that keeps both trout and anglers happy.

Dates for what we expect to be prime time, roughly June 20 through July 20 this year, are booking up quick! If you'd like to set up a trip, give us a call at (406) 223-8204.

Winter 2023-2024 has been warm and dry in Yellowstone Country, just like it has just about everywhere except California through Colorado. For a while we were flirting with record-low snowpack, and 50 degree days have been more common than below-zero here in Livingston. At the end of January we were....

21/03/2024

We got stickers! Cold stickers here! Buy two stickers and get a free envelope!

That's right, we now have both oval 4x6" and round 3x3" stickers for your car window, water bottle, fly box, or forehead. Really we don't care where you put them once you buy them.

Priced at $5.00 including shipping for one of each, or $4.00 for additional sets.

To order, shoot us an email at [email protected]. We'll send an email invoice so you can pay online.

19/03/2024

Best get your fishing in over the next couple days. Over the weekend we're going to get buried. This is the first time Opensnow has modeled SW Montana to be fully in the flow in a LONG time.

https://lift.opensnow.com/media-images/171085626210fdd3e2dc0536b15807ed8485c0ead3.png

(From Powderchasers: https://powderchasers.com/blogs/powderchasers-forecasts/powder-alert-sierra-rockies-pnw-several-systems-to-watch?fbclid=IwAR2-nSy7Ev4B4dpxbanwGdYNL0kuH0NxTNjDZrRVpgRWE-sBH_8kfL2Wfes)

13/03/2024

Planning a summer fishing trip to Yellowstone Country? Check out our latest predictions for summer streamflow and fishing conditions.

Long story short, we have low snowpack and will almost certainly see low, warm water this year. The best fishing will slant several weeks earlier in the season and late summer will see difficult conditions.

Winter 2023-2024 has been warm and dry in Yellowstone Country, just like it has just about everywhere except California through Colorado. For a while we were flirting with record-low snowpack, and 50 degree days have been more common than below-zero here in Livingston. At the end of January we were....

08/03/2024

We now have official unofficial confirmation (thanks to an inside source) that we are going to have a couple very good spring/fall/winter walk-wade options opening up year-round starting May 1.

Want details? Get in touch. We'll make the official-official announcement here when we can.

04/02/2024

Our new website is now live! It's still at https://flyfishmontana.biz, but the layout, content, etc. are all new. Please take a look!

28/01/2024

Restocking on sz16 Copper Hazy Cripples even though I won't need them until August. Ant-mayfly trout snack. Purple are next.

25/01/2024

YES PLEASE

22/01/2024

Planning a summer fishing trip to Yellowstone Country? Low snowpack means we're likely to see low, warm water. Here is a blog post about when to come to beat this low water.

2024 Snowpack and Expected Yellowstone-Area Fishing Conditions Greetings to clients old and new. I’m putting up this post to help all of you plan your summer fishing trips to the Yellowstone area, or really Montana in general. Simply put, it’s looking like all of Montana is in for an extremely l...

15/12/2023

Reminder:

Book Your 2024 Guided Trips Before New Year and Pay 2023 Rates!

10/12/2023

We're hard at work revamping our website. Here's a little sneak peak of the intro page to the "Our Fisheries" section of the site.

23/11/2023

BLACK FRIDAY SALE

Full-Day Spring Season Trips...

$550

Details in Top Comment!

09/11/2023

Here's a sneak peak at our LIKELY pricing for 2024. We had to submit a price list to re-up a couple of our permits. This won't appear on the website until we see if we're in line with competition.

Here's your handy reminder that you pay PREVIOUS SEASON RATES when you book prior to the end of the year. For a typical two-person full-day trip, that's a savings of $50 off our anticipated 2024 rates, since two-person full-days were $635.00 in 2023.

Also note that we're one of the few outfitters who offers discounted rates for single anglers. We like guiding singles a lot more than two clients (it's easier for both the guide and the client), and it also costs us less money since we only have to buy one lunch and go through half as many flies. We pass that savings in both labor and $$$ to our solo clients.

28/10/2023

Alright, winter, slow your roll. We need you to dump that snow between Thanksgiving and April when it ought to stick around. We still have trout to catch.

The Yellowstone Park fishing season closes at sunset on Halloween. Supposed to be in the 40s in Livingston, which shouldn't QUITE be enough to blow out waters inside the park.