Yellowstone River Guided Fly Fishing Trips

Our most popular guide trip, The Yellowstone River is the longest free flowing river in the continental United States, and it starts in our back yard.

Flowing through the picturesque Paradise Valley, our Yellowstone River float trips offer some of the most spectacular scenery found anywhere.  Due to it’s limited access for wading anglers, the Yellowstone River is the perfect river for drift boat fly fishing.

Fishing here is mainly done from hard sided McKenzie style drift boats, which are comfortable, safe and well suited for this large western river.  Divided into three sections for logistics only, this river is as diverse as it is long.  An angler on the Yellowstone could fish for more than a week straight and never see the same piece of water. 

Whether looking for Yellowstone Cuthroats on the upper river, solid action in the Livingston “town” stretches, or going after a big one on the lower river, the Yellowstone has something to offer everyone.  Beginner and experts alike will appreciate the Yellowstone’s abundance of options.   

When is the best time to fish the Yellowstone?

As mentioned before, the Yellowstone River is the longest free flowing river in the lower forty eight states.  With no dams to control flows or spring run-off, the Yellowstone is truly a wild western river, with stream flows ranging from 1000 cubic feet per second (CFS) to over 30,000 CFS during the peak of our spring run-off.   Flows are dependent on several factors with winter snowpack being the most important.  A good snowpack in the mountains going into spring will almost always assure good flows through the rest of the summer.  This year’s snowpack is slightly above average so we should see great fishing conditions throughout the summer and into the fall.  Other factors that can influence fishing on the Yellowstone are the amount of spring moisture we receive, and summer temperatures.  Both of these factors are minor in comparison to winter snowpack, and impossible to predict when planning a fishing trip on the Yellowstone.

Seasons on the Yellowstone:

Starting in mid April, the Yellowstone begins to warm and baetis (blue winged olives) begin to hatch.  This hatch provides some outstanding dry fly fishing for the hardy angler who is willing to endure the ever changing Montana spring weather. Anglers at this time of year can experience weather conditions ranging from Sixty degree blue bird days to snow squalls and temperatures in the high thirties to low forties.  Of course, the best fishing occurs on the overcast days when the baetis hatches last all afternoon and the fish, feed on baetis adults with seemingly reckless abandon.

By late April caddis begin to appear on the Yellowstone and signal the start of our famous “Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch”.  It takes several warm days late in the month to get the hatch really going, and it will remain strong intothe first couple of weeks of May.  Many of our clients regard this time of the year as the best time to fish the Yellowstone.  It’s still spring in Montana, so be prepared for all types of weather conditions.   Also, the same heat that gets the caddis hatch started can also start our spring run-off.  Every year is different as to how long we can fish the caddis hatch before the river becomes too muddy to fish, so we recommend booking your trip for the last week of April or the first week of May.  If the Yellowstone does become unfishable, we have several other great options available at that time of the year.  The Madison River has the same “Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch” at about the same time and the Spring Creeks around Livingston all provide great opportunities at that time of the year.

Spring run-off will make the Yellowstone unfishable from anywhere from six to ten weeks.  Look for the river to become fishable again this year around the first or second weeks of July.  The salmon fly hatch on the upper river can be memorable, but timing is everything.  During the years when spring run-off is relatively short, Salmon fly fishing can be found on all the stretches from the town of Emigrant upstream to the Yellowstone National Park boundary.  When run-off is longer, the bugs will still hatch, but the high dirty water will prevent any chance of good fly fishing.  This year we expect a very small window of opportunity to catch the salmon fly hatch because of the abundant snowpack.

Once run-off is over, the river will offer some of the best nymphing opportunities for larger fish that we have all year.  The higher flows concentrate fish along the banks, and the fish feed comfortably on a variety of nymph and streamer patterns.  Though the nymph fishing can be good anytime of the year, the last two weeks of July is one of our favorites for shots at the numerous large brown and rainbow trout that inhabit the Yellowstone.

As the summer progresses, stream flows continue to drop and with that the hopper fishing begins to pick up.  It seems that the high water years equate somehow to good hopper fishing.  Last year was one of the best  years for hopper fishing that we have had in ten years, and this year looks like it’s shaping up to be the same.  Since grasshoppers are abundant all summer long, the hopper fishing on the Yellowstone can be good all of August and into the middle of September.  Mix in the summer stonefly hatches that occur at the same time of year, and August through mid September are some of the most reliable and enjoyable months of the year to fish the Yellowstone.

The fall season on the Yellowstone River is one of brilliant Indian summer days, the ever changing colors of the cottonwoods along the river, and the start of a wide variety of fishing opportunities.  Everything from casting size #20 baetis imitations at gently rising fish, to throwing six inch articulated streamers for trophy browns, to just about every thing in between is possible during a fall float trip on the Yellowstone.  As the summer tourists head home, mid September to late October provide superb fishing, outstanding scenery, and uncrowded conditions on one of the last truly wild and untamed rivers in the West. 

Call us at The River’s Edge for more information about our guided float trips on the Yellowstone River.

Tags: guided fly fishing trips montana, rivers edge bozeman montana, yellowstone river