Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park

• 10/23/24 Fly Fishing Report for Yellowstone National ParkOctober 23, 2024
  Beginning Nov. 1, 2024, Yellowstone National Park will expand fishing access by allowing for year-round fishing opportunities at two locations in the park. The Gardner River from Osprey Falls downstream to the confluence with the Yellowstone River near the North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana. The Madison River from the Wyoming/Montana state line downstream to the park boundary… Read More »10/23/24 Fly Fishing Report for Yellowstone National Park

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Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park
Welcome to fly fishing Yellowstone National Park. This website provides you with all the information you need for fly fishing the many trout streams in this great National Park.
A lifetime would not allow a person enough time to fish all of the water of Yellowstone National Park. It is that huge, over 2.2 Million acres. There are over 2600 miles of streams. The park offers the most water in any one area of the United States and maybe the world, that is open to the public to fly fish. The fly-fishing opportunities are diverse and unlimited.
You can drive in any of the entrances, at Gardiner, West Yellowstone, Cooke City, the East Entrance or the South Entrance and any of the other smaller entrances to the park, pull off the side of the road, walk a few yards and start catching trout on the fly. Or, you can hike into (or go by horseback if it is permitted) to some sections of streams inside the park that are over thirty miles from the nearest vehicle access and catch trout. Between these two extremes, immediate access or remote, isolated locations, you can choose from hundreds of other locations to fish. Miles and miles of Yellowstone streams will never even be cast to by an angler. Yellowstone is that big and has that much water.

Yellowstone’s Trout:
In our opinion, the Yellowstone National Park’s main fly fishing attraction is its native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout. This is the only native species of trout in the park. Wild, stream-bred rainbow, brown and brook trout also thrive in the park’s numerous streams. The typical trout in Yellowstone headwater streams are comparatively small. Some may think that the small size is a product of the park but if they have taken the time to fish other freestone streams in the Western United States where there isn’t any stocked trout, only wild or native fish, then they found that small trout are typical of any headwater mountain stream. One reason is the PH of the water.

The Best Time To Fish Yellowstone:
The fishing season at Yellowstone National Park runs from the last Saturday of May through and including the first Sunday of November. There are specific area exceptions. There isn’t a “best time” to fish during this season. Trout can be taken throughout the season.
To often, fly-fishing in the park (and everywhere else for that matter) is characterized as poor, good or excellent when it should be characterized as difficult, average or easy.

The Best Places To Catch Trout In Yellowstone:
Yellowstone fly-fishing is fly-fishing at its best. Our stream directory shows not just the large number of different rivers and streams but that they are all unique small, medium and large stream native and wild trout fisheries.
Probably the first question a visiting angler asks when they arrive at the Yellowstone is “where do I fish”? Any angler could spill off a list of streams but the list would vary from angler to another. Consider this fact one more time. The Yellowstone National Park is over 2.2 million acres. There are over two thousand six hundred miles of streams that supports trout. There are about a thousand streams.
You also must consider that stream conditions are subject to change with time. Streams that have a high population of trout one year may not the next. Mother nature can drastically change the trout’s environment and can do so very quickly. A drought condition, lack of snowfall or a flood can change the trout population of a stream in a very short time. Also consider that when the trout population in a given stream becomes low, the average size of the fish in the stream usually increases.

How To Catch Yellowstone Trout:
Dry fly fishing is at its best at Yellowstone. It’s much more rewarding and certainly requires more skill to catch a rising trout feeding on emerging aquatic insects than it does to try to fool a fish you cannot see beneath the surface. We use the nymphing method of fly-fishing, but not when the fish are rising to emerging insects or terrestrial insects that have fallen in the water.

Understanding the insects that the trout rely on for food is the key to this kind of quality fly-fishing. That’s where the information and instructions provided in our forthcoming fly-fishing video – “Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park” is invaluable. The video provides specific information on all the major streams, fishing methods, strategies and techniques.

Added Attractions:
Yellowstone is a premier viewing area for bears as well as many other species of wildlife.
During your fly-fishing trip it is possible to see bear, deer, elk, fox, hawks, eagles, wolves, and all types of small animals.