The river is still in the summer mode with fish actively looking for hoppers, ants, and beetles. The good news is that the The Yellowstone River no longer has any hoot owl restrictions!
Even with hoot owls being lifted most guides are getting on early and getting off before the hottest time of the day. Streamflows about half of long term averages, but the river is fishing well early in the day till early afternoon and then again late in the day till dark. The mid-afternoon period from 2-ish till 6ish is still the slowest time of day. A few fish are looking up and eating hoppers in fast water, but, your fishing time is best reserved for the early in the day until early afternoon. And, with the hot weather in the forecast for the next several days, expect that to hold.
Most of the hatches are occurring in the cool of the morning or the hour just before sunset. But matching the hatch is not what is getting it done on the Yellowstone at the moment. Terrestrials--insects that live on land like grasshoppers, ants, and beetles--are responsible for nearly all the dry fly eats on the Yellowstone right now.
Some sections of the Yellowstone are seeing some tricos hatches as well, but they are sporadic and aren't up and down the river.
The lower flows are ideal for a variety of fishing opportunities--from fishing dry flies from a boat and targeting the variety of bank structures to fishing tandem nymph rigs along shelfs and through deeper runs to early morning big brown trout hunts with streamers.
Current Conditions:
The Yellowstone is flowing about half the normal flow for this time of year. In early fall trout can be found in a variety of places, but as grasshoppers become more and more active and provide more of a trout's diet in the coming weeks, look for fish to be migrating from holding lies to feeding lies on a regular basis. Nymphing tight to the banks or in the deeper corners of riffles are producing fish when grasshoppers are not. Fish are also hanging out in the deeper runs at the bottom of riffles or off of medium fast banks. Be sure to target inside corners and around rocks as trout can hang here and ambush a floating grasshopper. Trout have been looking up off and on for a variety of attractor patterns, with Stimulators and Royal Chubby Chernobyl's ruling the roost. For those anglers willing to get an early start, the streamer fishing has also been very good during low light levels before the sun gets really high on the horizon. Most guides fish streamers right now by using a tandem rig with a large sculpin or baitfish pattern trailed by a smaller beadhead nymph.
The Month Ahead:
Until our first major cold snap of the season comes, the fish are most likely going to stay into into faster water such as riffles, faster and deeper runs, and along fast banks. As banks recede and if the current slows along the banks, the trout will move to deeper flats and runs. Target depths in the 2-4 feet range. Giant attracter dries won’t work as well as smaller patterns as the trout see more flies when throwing dries. Trout will continue to move into progressively faster water as temps increase. We are in the summer thundershower cycle so pay close attention to the hydrographs of tributaries like the Gardiner and Lamar and if you see them spike after turbulent weather expect some mud to come down.