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.