Four Weeks of Fishing

Dateline: Saturday, June 28^th

I have been in Yellowstone National Park for 27 days, and fished 25 of them. My waders really never got dry. A dream come true, to say the least! This is the last day of fishing before I pick Heidi up at the Bozeman airport and we spend a week in Glacier National Park.

I have fished two rivers, the Madison and the Firehole. Being able to linger on them for so long, watching their conditions unfold day by day (often  hour by hour) for almost a month has provided a rich, unhurried experience. Their natural beauty is a big part of their attraction; the wildlife, the scenery, their reactions to weather and time of day. I’ve been channeling David Thoreau, Tom Sawyer, the fly fishing greats of decades past.

Firehole River, above Midway Geyser Basin

Through my Midwestern eyes, June in Yellowstone feels like late spring. Elevation in the part of the Park where I’ve been fishing is about 6500 feet, and the Park is about on the 45^th parallel (equivalent to the northern lower peninsula in Michigan). I have seen snow, sleet, and hail. A brief outbreak of summer two weeks ago ended abruptly with an uncharacteristic run of chilly, damp weather. I’ve been using clothes I didn’t expect to need until fall.

Inside the Park’s boundaries, the Madison and Firehole are phenomenal rivers with unaltered watersheds. Despite a lot of rain (including one night of nearly steady light rain), they remained clear-running, fishable. Many anglers hesitate coming out to Montana in June for fear of hitting muddy rivers from snowmelt. All I can say is, pick your rivers; you are missing some great fishing Montana in June (and far fewer tourists).

Madison River at Three Dollar Bridge, Cameron MT

This is my fourth June in Yellowstone, and I have yet to encounter a dirty river. In addition to good fishing, there’s also elk calves, bison calves (one of the cutest critters on earth), wildflowers, fragrant meadows and the unexpected beauty of green mountain slopes framed by still snow-capped mountains.

Fishing began with streamers when I first arrived early June; then nymphs; and finally in the last week, dry flies. Beyond enjoying the different techniques, I also got to fish very different sections of the rivers, including the Madison outside the Park below Quake Lake, about 40 miles away. I discovered new hot spots away from the well-documented locations that get trampled.

The fishing has been just about everything I hoped for. The fish have been nearly as big as those I caught here in fall 2012 (my benchmark), and more plentiful. My fishing log records six days when all the stars were aligned just right: June 5^th on the Firehole (streamers); June 14^th on the Firehole (nymphs); June 16^th on the Firehole (dry flies in a terrific blue wing olive mayfly hatch); June 18^th on the Madison (nymphs and dries); June 20^th at Three Dollar Bridge below Hebgen Lake (nymphs); the evening of June 27^th on the Firehole (dries).

Madison River, inside Yellowstone National Park

There were a few disappointing days in there, to be sure. And yes, more than one big one got away.  But, I achieved some personal best’s from all this fishing time on two fine trout rivers. I feel much more accomplished as an angler. Immersion learning works for trout fishing as well as it does for a foreign language.

As nice as the Park waters are, I really enjoy the Madison River below Hebgen/Quake Lakes. What a piece of fishing water! For sheer volume of beautiful fish habitat and opportunities to catch big trout, I’d say it’s the tops. Close behind is the Madison in the Park. I have a real fondness it; trout larger than what you catch on the Firehole, much easier to find uncrowded fishing.

With future posts, I will circle back and write about a few notable incidents in more detail. Looking ahead, Heidi and I will be in Glacier for a week; I start working at one of the Yellowstone lodges on July 10^th; cutthroat trout fishing in the Lamar Valley will be good July/August; and I can’t wait to experience the fall fishing on the Madison again.

Reconnecting with Yellowstone Friends

Aside from the fishing and landscapes, another benefit of this summer is reconnecting with friends made in 2012. I call this our Old Faithful Front Desk Gang, about fifteen returnees who all worked together at the Old Faithful Inn front desk. This is the fifth season in a row for a few in the group.

We are dispersed around the Park at different lodges this season, at Old Faithful, Roosevelt, and Lake. Our different locations, along with the usual different work schedules, will complicate getting together for activities.

Outside Canyon Lodge

Some of us managed to get together last weekend. We met for a picnic dinner over near Yellowstone Falls on Saturday. Later, a few of us had fun playing card games at Canyon Lodge. There were Patty (Virginia), Elaine (California), Sharon (Michigan) and Ted (Indiana)

On Sunday, we hiked Elephant Back Trail. Tom & Donna (California), Jan & Denny (Illinois), Elaine and I hiked this popular trail that provides a panoramic vista over Yellowstone Lake. Along the way, we paid a snowball tribute to Father’s Day.

Father's Day Tribute along Elephant Back Trail

Yellowstone Lake is remarkable for being the largest lake above 7,000 feet of elevation in the country. Always icy cold, it looks particularly so this year. It is still ringed by snow-capped peaks, and positively bulging along its shoreline with runoff from last winter’s heavy snows.

The lake is a temporary slow spot for the waters of the Yellowstone River which begins atop Two Ocean Plateau, so named because it sits astride the Continental Divide in the remotest part of the Park. It spawns rivers that flow both to the Pacific Ocean (Snake) and Gulf of Mexico (Yellowstone).

Overlooking Yellowstone Lake, the Asaroka Mountains in the distance

The Yellowstone River resumes below the lake, creating its legendary falls and grand canyon 15 miles downstream. In the narrow gorge where the river gains speed just before hurtling over the falls, the air almost throbs with the immense force of the moving water.

Note to anglers: the fishing has been good. I will get to it in a post soon.

 

The Trip Here

I left home in Philadelphia on May 22^nd, first destination was Fayetteville Arkansas to spend Memorial Day weekend with Jenn, our daughter, and her boyfriend, Dan. Jenn and I did our annual fishing trip together at Bull Shoals on the White River. This was our fourth trip, and it was the best one yet. We had non-stop action all day from the river’s huge population of rainbow trout. Mixed in with dozens of rainbows, we also caught a half dozen of the larger, wilier brown trout. The Ozarks are beautiful this time of year, the air sweet, the stifling days of summer still in the future.

Jenn's catch on the White River, Bull Shoals Arkansas

From northwest Arkansas, I drove I-29 north through Missouri to South Dakota, turning west on I-90. The landscapes and towns along the way ooze history of the American West.

Two days of driving took me to the Black Hills where I enjoyed seeing Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park (summertime home for two Presidents, Coolidge and Eisenhower).

Driving on, I passed through historic Deadwood (now burdened with casinos, unfortunately)

Western art, Deadwood South Dakota

and stopped at a terrific museum of national fish hatchery history in Spearfish. Next destination was Billings, Montana to spend a few days with Ann Norwood, our Yellowstone friend. Ann has a wonderful home up a box canyon just outside the city.

We took day trips to local points of interest, up to the little town of Roundup and to Pompy’s Pillar (the only physical evidence proving the Lewis & Clark Expedition, where William Lewis etched his name and the date in a huge bluff along the Yellowstone River).

After a week on the road and with three weeks of Yellowstone camping ahead of me, I took advantage of Billings shopping to replenish supplies. Heidi and I will be back to Ann’s after our trip to Glacier National Park next month.

Palisades along the Yellowstone River, Billings Montana

I arrived in Yellowstone National Park on June 3^rd, 3,000 miles after I began. The long days of driving are challenging, but I thoroughly enjoy seeing the immense expanse and diversity of our nation. June is a great month for the iconic All-American Road Trip. Light traffic, fair weather, and lots of daylight to ease the driving.

A New Yellowstone Season Begins

I have begun another season out in Yellowstone National Park. This year, I will be out here five months, late May to mid October. I arrived in the Park last week, and will camp/fish for almost a month before my summer job begins at the front desk of one of the Park’s lodges.


Firehole River, in the Park

Heidi won’t be joining me this season, once was enough for her. But, she’s flying out for two weeks in early July when we will celebrate our 40^th anniversary with a trip to Glacier National Park.

This is the earliest I’ve been in Yellowstone National Park. I planned it that way. The month of June is good weather, good fishing, and light crowds of visitors inside the Park. Wildlife is more active than in the heat of July/August, the long daylight of June provides ample time to enjoy being outside. The landscapes are beautiful; lush green everywhere, the wildflowers have begun to bloom, and snow left in the higher elevations of distant mountains makes for dramatic panoramas.

Bison a common sight at close range

Speaking of that snow, it is springtime snowmelt that can turn the rivers to chalk or mud in the Rockies. That has ruined many a fishing trip for anglers who come out this time of year. But, Yellowstone National Park's westside rivers, the Firehole and Madison, clear early. That was the case this year, even with a very heavy snowfall last winter. Though the Yellowstone River was running at flood stage and chocolate brown as I passed it in Billings on the way here 150 miles downstream, the Firehole and Madison were clear and fishable the day I arrived. That’s not to say that early June fishing in the Park is without challenges, as I will describe in future postings.

Until my seasonal job and dorm life start next month, I come into the town of West Yellowstone for internet service, an hour’s round trip. I will do so every few days, and hope to get a regular series of postings going soon. And for now, I'm using general delivery at the West Yellowstone post office (Daniel Keifer; General Delivery; West Yellowstone MT 59758). Mail, boxes of cookies, or trout flies you anglers would like field-tested will all be accepted.

 

Fishing along the Firehole River

My email address (dckeifer@comcast.net). If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to write about or have a question about visiting/fishing Yellowstone, let me know.