Is this the weekend it makes sense to finally fish the Yellowstone? You could even consider getting the boat out and doing a float. Wind forecasts look relatively average for this time of year--gusts to only 20 MPH, which is pretty common on the Yellowstone River for February. What isn't common on the Yellowstone in early February is for the river to be nearly absent of any large chunks of shelf ice. There will be some midges hatching but it is unlikely trout will be feeding on the surface. Perhaps check slow, back-eddies or slow foam lines, but the game on the Yellowstone River this weekend is going to be tandem nymph rigs fished in the deep, slow runs. Streamer anglers might also find some fish by dead-drifting or dragging streamers on sinking lines. Fish aren't moving much for food right now, but things should get better and better each day.
Because stream flows are the lowest of the entire year, walking-and-wading anglers have a lot of the river to fish--unlike other times of the year when anglers most often have to use a boat to get around and fish it effectively.
The Month Ahead:
It is hard to believe that we are possibly through the worst of the wintertime conditions on the Yellowstone. Large banks of shelf ice are almost gone and the the forecast for the next ten days isn't calling for any major cold spells.
Long Term Fishing Forecast:
With the mild winter we are having the Yellowstone River should be an decent option for the next few months until runoff begins in earnest in May.
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