As I am getting ready to go to Yellowstone on Wednesday

[PennKev]

Blue Ribbon Flies is resuming guide trips to the Madison today. There are plenty of places in the area to fish that don't involve the Park itself. Most trips that I've taken to the area, I've never bothered to fish in the Park.

The Madison is still on the rise approaching nearly 6000cfs at Ennis. However for perspective, The Little Juniata hit over 6000cfs in May and approached 5000cfs in February of this year. Slippery Rock Creek broke 8000cfs and Frankstown Branch of the Juniata hit a whopping 9000cfs this year. All these PA waters are MUCH smaller than the Madison. 6000cfs on the Madison, while unusual, is hardly the flood threat like what was seen on the Yellowstone and is only a very temporary disruption for anglers.

 

[Flyty_ryguy]

The NPS just closed the park today because of severe flooding. A family trip that I had been planning for years was to visit and fish the Yellowstone next week and Missoula the following week. Now what do I do? I'm guessing the large rivers will be screwed for the next few weeks. We are staying in West Yellowstone next week and Missoula the following week. I guess we could fish the smaller mountain streams and fight of the grizzlies. I am just beyond WTH right now. Anybody have any ideas?

I was just there and had left 2 days before the flooding, even before the flooding there was hardly any fishable rivers due to snow melt off the mountains, prob worst time of year to go out there cuz of snow melt, there are lakes u could fish and prob find some small streams that aren't tributaries of the bigger rivers

 

[Dan_r]

I’m headed to Livingston, the Yellowstone is still closed, too much debris. Bummed but trying to keep perspective that this storm caused a lot of serious damage. Hopefully I can fish it another summer.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I’m headed to Livingston, the Yellowstone is still closed, too much debris. Bummed but trying to keep perspective that this storm caused a lot of serious damage. Hopefully I can fish it another summer.

The spring creeks are an option there, if you are able to reserve an open date. Also, there are lakes nearby Livingston that are fishable now, although you‘d either need a guide, or your own watercraft (depending on the lake). The lower Madison is just a stone’s throw away and may also be fishable now (you can check its condition with a local fly shop).

 

[Dan_r]

Thanks mt_flyfisher.
I’m actually up here for work, just happens to be right along the Yellowstone. So I don’t have a ton of time for a guided outing but I’m hoping to get out on one of the smaller creek tribs and see how it goes.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Thanks mt_flyfisher.
I’m actually up here for work, just happens to be right along the Yellowstone. So I don’t have a ton of time for a guided outing but I’m hoping to get out on one of the smaller creek tribs and see how it goes.

I’m a Lancaster Co. guy too, but I spent 20 summers on the Yellowstone out in the valley south of Livingston. I’m PA now so I can’t see the small streams there right now but I’d be pretty surprised if you’d find any that are very fishable yet. You could check out Mill Creek (I’d go up the West Fork) or possibly the Shields as your closest bets, or maybe the Hyalite just outside Bozeman. Again, I’d check with the local fly shops for advice, unless you just want to go sightseeing.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Thanks mt_flyfisher.
I’m actually up here for work, just happens to be right along the Yellowstone. So I don’t have a ton of time for a guided outing but I’m hoping to get out on one of the smaller creek tribs and see how it goes.

I received this a couple days ago in an email from Angler’s West in Emigrant:

“What it Means for Fishing:

The Madison, Missouri River and Private Lakes are NOT IMPACTED at this time.

Currently the Yellowstone River as well as fishing locations typically accessible to us inYellowstone National Park, are not fishable. The North Entrance at Gardiner does not appear that it will open for some time. However, the West, East, and South Entrances are set to re-open today with a limited entry ALPS system (Alternating License Plate System, read more here) The Yellowstone River dropped dramatically within a day of the flood. River levels are well within the typical spring runoff levels that we typically see. We are hopeful the river will be approaching a fishable state by early July- not to different from a typical year. There is good news that Depuy Spring Creek and Armstrong (O’hair) Spring Creek, were not washed away as previously feared. They are both running clear, are intact (with a few changes) and fishable as well as OPEN for fishing.

Looking forward: We expect that we will continue to be fishing the private ranch lake locations and the Paradise Valley spring creeks for the next couple of weeks. The Lower Madison River is back into shape from runoff and added to our available fishing locations along with the private ranch options. The Yellowstone River has the possibility of coming into shape around the early part of July and by mid-July we should be as close to normal, minus the Yellowstone Park waters, as is typical for us for the summer.”

 

[Dan_r]

^this mostly matches what I saw up there. The Yellowstone was running hard but when I spoke to the fly shop they said it’s really not too far off from a normal year besides the run off being a bit later than normal. The difference wasn’t so much the volume as the abnormal volume of debris that was making it more dangerous and less fishable than normal.

The tribs were also still high but mill creek was almost there.

The private ranch spring creeks were open for business and getting fished, and the one I called stated that they never closed during the rainfall.