Yellowstone Fishing Report

Fly fishing on the Firehole has been incredible during June.  The fish are looking up and eating PMD's, BWO's, and Caddis along the entire length from the canyon to Biscuit Basin.  Sparkle Duns and Soft Hackles have worked well for the mayflies, especially on the cloudy days we've been having lately.  Emergences have been starting around 12pm and lasting until 5pm on these days.  Bring your #16-18 Rusty Spinners for the the spinner fall from 9am-12pm.  If fish are rising everywhere but won't eat your PMD pattern, switch to a #18 BWO Sparkle Dun and hang on! There are a few Salmonflies left in the canyon, so bring some #6 Rogue Foam Stones.  The fish will key more on Caddis as water temps start to warm up.  X Caddis and the EZ Caddis are great patterns for this hatch. Contact us here at the shop via phone (307)733-6483 or email info@westbank.com with any questions.  Tight lines! JB ... more...

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  The Yellowstone area still continues to be one of the better places to fish this time of year. The hatches on the Fire hole have been great with PMD’s and caddis hatching off over the course of the day. We have some cool new PMD and caddis patterns here at the shop that you might want to check out before heading north. With weather analyst predicting cloudy weather for the next week, you might also want to take some smaller streamers to Yellowstone. The streamer fishing can very productive during these over cast days (which we have seen a lot of lately). For you lake fisherman, remember Yellowstone Lake opens June 15. This can be a great opportunity to catch some huge Yellowstone Cutthroat. The ice is also off Lewis Lake, which can be a great fishing opportunity and is also a bit shorter of a drive from Jackson. If you have any questions check in with us here at the shop (307-733-6483/email: info@westbank.com). Good Fishing Matt Elliott... ... more...

    Fishing in Yellowstone opens Memorial Day weakened (May 23) and can offer some of the best spring fishing around. However, it is important to check with us or the fishing regulations to confirm what rivers and tributaries open May 23. Two popular fishing locations that don’t open May 23 are the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake opens June 15 and The Yellowstone River below fishing bridge doesn’t open until July 15. The best advice we can give here at the shop would be to get a fishing regulations pamphlet of Yellowstone so you can verify what is open Memorial Day weakened.     Naturally, if we are talking about the Yellowstone area opening to fishing we must talk about fishing the Fire hole. The Fire Hole is one of the most majestic fisheries in the region. There are not many places to fish where you might actually be fishing next to a hot springs with buffalo grazing across the river. A fun approach to fishing the Fire Hole is to bring out the old traditional Soft Hackle flies like the Royal Coachman and the Spectre Soft Hackle in an Olive. Also taking a standard Parachute Adams or an Elk Hair Caddis can give any angler the opportunity to fish some dry flies earlier in the season.     With any questions about fishing the Yellowstone area please give us a call at the shop or email us at info@westbank.com. Just because the local rivers are getting close to run-off doesn’t mean the fly rod needs to stay in the closet. There are numerous streams to fish in Yellowstone and taking the time to explorer new water can be very rewarding. Good Fishing Matt Elliott more...

    The river below fishing bridge opened this past Wednesday(15th). The reports we got back from the opener was that the water levels were very very high. In most spots on the river it was also impossible to take more then 2 steps off the bank because the water was just to high.  This high water should help multiple aspects of the river system for years to come, it just was not helpful for this years opener. However, it might not be bad idea to wait a week or two and then head back up to Yellowstone and check if wading is a bit more manageable. Check back with us and hopefully we will get a few more reports about bug activity and river flows in the upcoming weeks. Good fishing Matt Elliott ... more...

The voluntary closures from noon to 6:00PM have now been made mandatory.  The warm water temps have prompted the Park Service to issue mandatory closures on many of the popular rivers from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.  I recommend not fishing past Noon, so get up early, take a walk - be sure to have bear spray and make noise - and go fishing.  There are great opportunities in the Park you just have to get out there early - the adventerous angler gets the fish!!!!!!more...