Yellowstone Lake

The rivers around Western Wyoming and Eastern Idaho are beginning to stabilize after many weeks of rain and snow. The warmer temperatures lately have helped many of the local rivers reach their runoff peaks. Although it is still muddy, the Snake at Moose is running around 6,000 cfs. We should see better fishing conditions in a few weeks on the Snake. The Green has been a bit of a roller coaster; it's been fluctuating between 1,200 and 2,000 cfs over the past week, with varying degrees of clarity. I spent the weekend with the family camping above Warren Bridge, and we fished it both days. Although it is still high, and has limited visibility, the streamer fishing was surprisingly good. The South Fork had come down as low as 12,500 cfs over the past few days, and was brought back up again today to 14,600 cfs. I'm not sure if the Bureau of Reclamation even knows where to leave it right now, as Palisades is nearly full. If they can level it off where it is now, the dry fly fishing should really pop soon, particularly on the lower river. It's been a late start all over the region. Cool temps and high water have stalled the Salmonfly hatch on the Big Hole and the Madison Rivers. This should change this week with better weather.
Stan Czarniak and I spent Friday on Yellowstone Lake, near West Thumb. The streamer fishing was fantastic. In recent years, the numbers of fish that fly-rodders have been tying into has gone down. The fishing the other day sure felt better. We saw over a dozen fish in the net, including a 5-pounder.
Although it was not a fifty-fish day reminiscent of ten years ago, it was a heck of a lot better than the fishing I've had in the past few years. Hopefully these beautiful Cutthroat are making their comeback here. Headed to the Firehole tomorrow with some clients. More soon!