I need to amend yesterday’s post; there is good dry fly action to be had on the Yellowstone River right now. We floated from Carter’s Bridge to 9th Street Bridge yesterday afternoon. The dry fly fishing was steady, if not spectacular. We came across plenty of fish rising along the banks. We saw both March Browns and a few caddis, but the fish seemed to be munching on the former. The evidence? Most of the fish were caught on Parachute Hare’s Ears (size 14), Rat-Faced McDougalls, and Irresistibles. Oops, we forgot to take any pictures, so you’ll just have to trust that we were catching fish.

While you’re waiting on the caddis, you may as well get out and fish. The fishing was good on the Yellowstone River again yesterday and things should be just as good, or better, this weekend. The Yellowstone continues to drop (it’s down to about 5300 cfs) and clarity to improve. Fish are primarily being caught on nymphs, but a few are rising to dries. For nymphs, it’s hard to beat a King Prince or a CDC pheasant tail. Try either in about a size 14. If you want to prospect with dries, you might go with a March Brown imitation, an Irresistible, or a good old Parachute Adams. As for the caddis, the water temperature just hasn’t come up enough to get them going again. We need a warm spell (but not too warm, of course) to start the hatch up again.

Word from our sources is that the Yellowstone River fished well yesterday. There were even a few caddis about, and fish munching on them along the sheltered banks in the late afternoon. Flows are down below 6000 cfs at Carter’s Bridge, with a bit of a bump from last night’s rain. I haven’t had a chance to look at the river this morning, but if the clarity was affected by the rain, it should be moving through pretty quickly. Water temperatures are still relatively low, which could put off the big hatch a bit longer. As long as we don’t get a lot of rain later in the week, things should be looking good towards the weekend, even if the bug explosion isn’t here yet. Get out while you still can.

The Yellowstone this morning  is down to about 7000 cfs at Carter’s Bridge. The clarity is relatively good. The water is pretty cold, so don’t expect any dry fly action today. But you might pick up some fish on nymphs or streamers (deaddrifted or stripped slowly). Be careful if you head out; it’s still a big river at these flows!