Looks like just a tease - the Yellowstone is rising again with only a foot of visibility in town. With warmer temperatures just around the corner, the Yellowstone should finally be toast.  The good news is that today (3rd weekend in May) is the general creek opener.  Many of these high mountain creeks clear quicker than the rivers they flow into, and the fish haven't seen a fly for months.  Since many of these creeks are pocket water, choose a high floating dry like an elk hair, stimulator or trude.  Don't forget your bear spray and a bag for wild morel mushrooms. 

Looks like the river gods have granted us a few more chances before runoff.  The Yellowstone dropped like a rock over the last two days, and while it has come up slightly to 4,470 CFS, the visibility is a good two feet.  Plenty of caddis in the bushes still should the sun pop out, especially near Mill Creek bridge.  We'll see what happens this weekend, but today definitely looks like a good day to be on the Stone in the Valley.  In town, the water is more muddy, mostly due to Billman Creek, but we still have between a foot to a foot and a half of vis.  After this weekend the Yellowstone should finally be in full runoff as we have quite a few days forecasted in the high 70's and even 80's.  The snow pack in the Upper Yellowstone basin is a whopping 130%.  We'll see how fast the snow comes down, but at this point we should have plenty of water and a very healthy fishery this summer!

The Yellowstone in town today is about 6 inches of visibility with a milk chocolate tone.  Streamer fishing could be an option, but there are so many floating sticks in the eddies already that it probably would not be worth your while.  The Yellowstone is dropping on paper however, so if things start to clear up we'll let you know.  With the forecasted warm weather this week however it looks like runoff will be in full swing sooner the later.  Once the "cottonwood hatch" starts it will be down right dangerous to float.  At this time we'll start fishing the spring creeks as well as local and private lakes.  For you Mother's Day Caddis fans, we've also heard reports of caddis on the lower Madison already...  

It rain pretty good in town this morning for about a half hour.  Nice overcast clouds and a little more than a foot of visibility - it was tough to tell with the low light.   The river looks like a juicy day for throwing streamers that's for sure!  I didn't see any caddis out, but if the clouds burn off and the caddis become more active, the trout will still be eating caddis through the murk.  Last year during the Simms Bowl-a-thon the fish were going nuts on caddis dries, even through 5 inches of visibility.  Looks like this week is calling for 60 degree weather with 20-30% chance rain, so the Yellowstone will likely blow this weekend.  We'll keep you posted...   

             David Jayne and David Cory with a 20 1/2" brown

The caddis hatch was in full swing today.  We floated through town and saw quite a few people hooked up.   At times the fish were up and eating caddis steadily.  We also caught some fish on parachute March browns.  David Cory caught the best fish of the day, a beautiful 20.5 inch brown.  We pulled in below the fish and must have put 20 casts over his head before sticking him with a Butch Caddis.   The cutthroat were happy and eating dries, we probably saw close to 50 rises, and while we missed quite a few we definitely had some hot dry fly action.  Then the wind blew us away and the fish turned off hard.  The bonus of the day was an 18 inch brown that David caught on a streamer 20 feet from the take out.  If that doesn't prove "it ain't over till the fat lady sings" I don't know what does!  The water clarity was great - at least two feet at Carter's.  We hear there may be some mud coming, so give us a call in the morning to check on the current conditions.  I have a feeling the Stone will fish great tomorrow... 

                                  Happy Mother's Day...

Today was a great day to be on the water.  Looking at the number of parked rigs with empty trailers at Pine Creek and Carter's, I'd say the feeling was universal.  Last night was below freezing which will definitely help with tomorrow's clarity.  The river was about a foot and a half of visibility today; I'd expect to see about the same tomorrow.  Plenty of caddis are out there with a few consistent risers.  Charlie Eubank was rocking the rainbows on a small elk hair caddis tight to the riprap.  We'd see a riser here or there and back row like crazy until we got it in the net.  He also hooked into a heck of a brown on streamers, but the fish tail walked like a tarpon and got off.  The brown above made some serious arial maneuvers as well.  He smashed my second streamer and went vertical like an F16 kicking in his afterburners.  He swirled down stream and jumped again before we got him in the net.  After we released him, we looked up and an eagle was still perched on his tree watching us, "Man - you know he's got to be upset right about now!"       

                     Andrew Babcock with a pair of nice browns

The Yellowstone is looking great today.  Plenty of visibility and caddis in town that's for sure. Dito that for Pine to Carter's. I didn't see a ton of rises in the morning but as the evening approaches, I'd expect some good dry fly action.  For those of you who are interested in learning more about the Mother's Day Caddis on line, I found a good article on Fly Fisherman's web site.  They also had another article on egg laying caddis which is worth a glance.  I know from person experience that slapping one of Rene Harrop's fertile caddis into the water is a good way to get the trout's attention, especially when fishing through the mix of thousands of bugs.