Making The Rounds

I've finally just completed a full week of guiding, which brought me completely around the local fishing block. With high and dirty water still plaguing this region, and clients cancelling or postponing fishing trips, I was lucky to get on the water with anglers this entire week. I guided on the Firehole, Yellowstone Lake, the Green River and the Snake below Jackson Lake Dam. The fishing on the Firehole was great. We were on the water early and there were fish eating aggressively on top. I'm actually not entirely sure what the type of Mayfly it was. I call it a large PMD...about a size 14, with a pale yellow or cream color. It's a hatch I see each season about this time. Anyone out there know what this bug is? We fished the hatch from about 9 am until 1 pm. Although it slowed down in the afternoon, the water temperatures are still holding cool enough. Yellowstone Lake fished par for the course: a handful of nice fish netted on small buggers using sink-tip lines. Although the Lake has been good, I'd probably skip the river right now. With the lake up about 3 feet, the river below Fishing Bridge is huge.
Normally this time of year, we are able to get folks on the Snake below Jackson Lake Dam to fish down to Pacific Creek, above the muddy tributaries. I gave it a shot on Tuesday. We had a decent morning on Caddisflies and saw numerous Sallies in the afternoon. Most of the fish eating up there were smaller, but at least they were taking dries. The bad news is that since I was on that section, the Bureau of Reclamation has raised the levels again to nearly 5,000 cfs. Yesterdays paper said that these flows would last until late July, and then be reduced to about 2,800 cfs for the rest of the season. This would be a great level for us. Keep your fingers crossed. All of the Snake tributaries are began to slowly drop and clear, so there is a distant light now at the end of the tunnel!
And now, on to the Green...
I put three days in on the Green this week in the campground sections. The river is dropping very gradually, but is still around 2,700 cfs. My ideal flow would be below 1,500 cfs for reference. There is about 3 feet of clarity, and tons of bugs around. Grey Drakes, as well as a variety of Mayflies and Stoneflies are abundant right now. The fish are not quite eating them yet, though. If you were to fish a large dry all day, with a Drake Cripple trailer, for instance, you may pick up a fish or two feeding opportunistically. Streamers were also mediocre...nymphing was the most consistent way to find fish right now. Fish your large Beadheads and Rubberleg Stoneflies deep with splitshot. Good luck!
Here's Bob Kolscher with a typical Yellowstone Lake Cutthroat. More soon...