Headed to Bozeman/Yellowstone in July

[Jason Snyder]

The Gravel Bar in Ennis has great food and good beer.

Lots of options for fishing in the park, the Gardner River is a pretty good option, the Firehole is a tough river, think of a giant spring creek.

I've done well on the Yellowstone just north of the park (hike in). The Gibbon is a neat river. Lots of options. You're really only limited by 1) how far you want to hike and 2) rainstorms that blow out the rivers.

 

[mike vines]

Good timing on this thread. We have started planning/saving for our first Yellowstone adventure for Summer 2017. I'll be paying attention to those who have been there before.

 

[2ski]

You'd be my hero if you could give me some tips on awesome fly fishing locations!

Awesome fly fishing locations in the Bozeman/Yellowstone area.......well there's.......everywhere. Really. For a fly-shop in Bozeman, I would go to MT Troutfitters. In the middle of Bozeman, and they have the best info IMHO. There are many shops in the area, but they have put me in the right spot consistently. Most shops, if you ask where to fish x hatch, they'll tell give you a 10 mile stretch of river. Troutfitters has put me right on bugs with specific spots. The Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Madison are Blue Ribbon(MT's classification for the best fishing). The Ruby by Virginia and Nevada City(ghost towns that are well worth visiting) is red ribbon. And if you fish the Ruby you can do your part to stick it to an ilk of the Wilkes brothers, James Cox Kennedy, who would like nothing more than to keep you off the river.

The 'Stone above Livingston is where you would want to fish from there to the Park. Though, skipping Yankee Jim Canyon if the water is hauling. The river tends to get blown out easily if there's any sort of precipitation upstream. And wind. You have to deal with the wind. Big hatch is the Mother's Day Caddis hatch around mother's day. Clouds of caddis. There's also the spring creeks in the area if you want to pay to fish. Go to George Anderson's fly shop in Livingston. They are friendly and I like them best. Dan Bailey's is WORLD famous. So you can go there too.

The Maddy is a fantastic and very popular river. Below Ennis lake is refered to as the lower Madison. Because the dam is a dam that feeds the river from the top of the lake, the water warms up quickly in the spring and it means its still fishable in runnoff. It also means that as the summer progresses, it becomes a place that gets too warm to fish. And you have to deal with the floaters when the water is warm enough to float(usually by mid/late May. And there are ALOT of tubers every weekend. My favorite hatch: the height of tube floating season, the bikini hatch. Above Ennis lake is the Upper Madison and it was mentioned earlier, Ennis is a fly-fishing mecca. I like to eat at the mexican place attached to the G bar(Gravel bar). Willy's Distillery is in Ennis and has some popular booze in their tasting room. Ennis is kind of a cool town to walk around. Downtown is only a few blocks but it has a cool feel to it. One fly-shop I won't go in because if you aren't there to spend a bunch of money on gear, they won't talk to you. Literally have been ignored at the register as I was trying to buy flies. The Orvis shop in Ennis is the place to go. The guy in there is awesome. He's given me a free fly or two. There are TONS of fishing accesses above Ennis. And there is a TON of traffic at certain times in the summer. I have had people tell me you can darn near walk across the river stepping on drift boats. But it is the Madison River. And it is famous for a reason. There are few hatches that are equally renown in the U.S. as the salmon fly hatch in June on the Madison. Ask a fly shop about the Big Bugs and they know what you're talking about. Pay attention to the regs because sections of the river have different rules(no floating, or closed at certain times of the year). Between Quake and Hebgen lakes is a fantastic stretch of water. The water is always clear above Cabin Creek. If the snow is melting, Cabin Creek lets sediment into the river and cloudy's it. Bob Jacklin, a fly-shop owner in West(and who's fly shop I would suggest going to in West Yellowstone) caught a huge cutty in this stretch a few years ago that was in the paper. Bud Lilly's fly-shop is pretty well-know too. This is sitting in the mountains fishing. The rest of the Upper is in a big plains valley. Quake lake is a cool place to explore as well. If you don't know what it is, in '59 there was an earthquake that caused the side of a mountain to slide into the Madison River, and buried people camping in the area, damming up the river creating Quake lake. There is a little visitor center there with a seismograph and info. Kind of crazy to see how many earthquakes there are DAILY in the area.

The Gallatin, I would say from Belgrade upstream. Down in the valley around Bozeman is wade fishing the river through loads of trees that surround the river in the middle of a flat, open valley. Up into the canyon you go into the mountains and the road parallels the river where in high water, floaters float the rapids in spring. By summer, the whole thing is wade fish-able. Once you get up to Big Sky, the river mellows out and is flatter water all the way to the Park. There are all sorts of places to fish in the streams coming into the Gallatin as well. Taylor's fork could be a smaller stream to fish that you could share with the bears and dude ranch up the road. Hyalite Creek up Hyalite canyon is some good fishing after it opens the 3rd weekend in May. Above Hyalite reservoir is some cool fishing but you're crawling over logs and it can get tight, but fun and rewarding. Hyalite Canyon sees more visitors every weekend than any other forest service area in MT, so there's that to think about too.

If you want to fly-fish around Bozeman, you literally just go drive until you find a spot to fish. In the summer everyone goes out to fish. All the rivers and streams. I could drive up by Bridger bowl and probably find someone fishing the creek any weekend and most evenings in the summer. Tomorrow if the weather is above 45 degrees, probably most of the pullouts in Gallatin canyon will have a car. You just can't go wrong anywhere. And I'm not saying that like you're not going to find a place to fish because its crowded. Because its really not crowded. There's just a lot of people that fish here. You just have to park and walk up-stream a little. Wave to the guy fishing as you walk by. But plenty of space.

 

[mike vines]

That is a load of great info. Would you mind if I ask about going in early Summer with a 13 and 11 year old boys and spinning rods? Why type of spinners and size would be good to get them on fish?

 

[Cledus]

Awesome fly fishing locations in the Bozeman/Yellowstone area.......well there's.......everywhere. Really. For a fly-shop in Bozeman, I would go to MT Troutfitters. In the middle of Bozeman, and they have the best info IMHO. There are many shops in the area, but they have put me in the right spot consistently. Most shops, if you ask where to fish x hatch, they'll tell give you a 10 mile stretch of river. Troutfitters has put me right on bugs with specific spots. The Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Madison are Blue Ribbon(MT's classification for the best fishing). The Ruby by Virginia and Nevada City(ghost towns that are well worth visiting) is red ribbon. And if you fish the Ruby you can do your part to stick it to an ilk of the Wilkes brothers, James Cox Kennedy, who would like nothing more than to keep you off the river.

The 'Stone above Livingston is where you would want to fish from there to the Park. Though, skipping Yankee Jim Canyon if the water is hauling. The river tends to get blown out easily if there's any sort of precipitation upstream. And wind. You have to deal with the wind. Big hatch is the Mother's Day Caddis hatch around mother's day. Clouds of caddis. There's also the spring creeks in the area if you want to pay to fish. Go to George Anderson's fly shop in Livingston. They are friendly and I like them best. Dan Bailey's is WORLD famous. So you can go there too.

The Maddy is a fantastic and very popular river. Below Ennis lake is refered to as the lower Madison. Because the dam is a dam that feeds the river from the top of the lake, the water warms up quickly in the spring and it means its still fishable in runnoff. It also means that as the summer progresses, it becomes a place that gets too warm to fish. And you have to deal with the floaters when the water is warm enough to float(usually by mid/late May. And there are ALOT of tubers every weekend. My favorite hatch: the height of tube floating season, the bikini hatch. Above Ennis lake is the Upper Madison and it was mentioned earlier, Ennis is a fly-fishing mecca. I like to eat at the mexican place attached to the G bar(Gravel bar). Willy's Distillery is in Ennis and has some popular booze in their tasting room. Ennis is kind of a cool town to walk around. Downtown is only a few blocks but it has a cool feel to it. One fly-shop I won't go in because if you aren't there to spend a bunch of money on gear, they won't talk to you. Literally have been ignored at the register as I was trying to buy flies. The Orvis shop in Ennis is the place to go. The guy in there is awesome. He's given me a free fly or two. There are TONS of fishing accesses above Ennis. And there is a TON of traffic at certain times in the summer. I have had people tell me you can darn near walk across the river stepping on drift boats. But it is the Madison River. And it is famous for a reason. There are few hatches that are equally renown in the U.S. as the salmon fly hatch in June on the Madison. Ask a fly shop about the Big Bugs and they know what you're talking about. Pay attention to the regs because sections of the river have different rules(no floating, or closed at certain times of the year). Between Quake and Hebgen lakes is a fantastic stretch of water. The water is always clear above Cabin Creek. If the snow is melting, Cabin Creek lets sediment into the river and cloudy's it. Bob Jacklin, a fly-shop owner in West(and who's fly shop I would suggest going to in West Yellowstone) caught a huge cutty in this stretch a few years ago that was in the paper. Bud Lilly's fly-shop is pretty well-know too. This is sitting in the mountains fishing. The rest of the Upper is in a big plains valley. Quake lake is a cool place to explore as well. If you don't know what it is, in '59 there was an earthquake that caused the side of a mountain to slide into the Madison River, and buried people camping in the area, damming up the river creating Quake lake. There is a little visitor center there with a seismograph and info. Kind of crazy to see how many earthquakes there are DAILY in the area.

The Gallatin, I would say from Belgrade upstream. Down in the valley around Bozeman is wade fishing the river through loads of trees that surround the river in the middle of a flat, open valley. Up into the canyon you go into the mountains and the road parallels the river where in high water, floaters float the rapids in spring. By summer, the whole thing is wade fish-able. Once you get up to Big Sky, the river mellows out and is flatter water all the way to the Park. There are all sorts of places to fish in the streams coming into the Gallatin as well. Taylor's fork could be a smaller stream to fish that you could share with the bears and dude ranch up the road. Hyalite Creek up Hyalite canyon is some good fishing after it opens the 3rd weekend in May. Above Hyalite reservoir is some cool fishing but you're crawling over logs and it can get tight, but fun and rewarding. Hyalite Canyon sees more visitors every weekend than any other forest service area in MT, so there's that to think about too.

If you want to fly-fish around Bozeman, you literally just go drive until you find a spot to fish. In the summer everyone goes out to fish. All the rivers and streams. I could drive up by Bridger bowl and probably find someone fishing the creek any weekend and most evenings in the summer. Tomorrow if the weather is above 45 degrees, probably most of the pullouts in Gallatin canyon will have a car. You just can't go wrong anywhere. And I'm not saying that like you're not going to find a place to fish because its crowded. Because its really not crowded. There's just a lot of people that fish here. You just have to park and walk up-stream a little. Wave to the guy fishing as you walk by. But plenty of space.

Dude! So much awesome info. Thank you, sir, I appreciate it!

 

[Jason Snyder]

That is a load of great info. Would you mind if I ask about going in early July with a 13 and 11 year old boys and spinning rods? Why type of spinners and size would be good to get them on fish?

Yes, you can catch fish on spinners. Small spoons can be a good bet too, hammered brass with a little orange is a good all around.

Go out around Axtell Bridge on the Gallatin and hike below the high water mark, you'll find some nice water for throwing hardware around. The Yellowstone between Emigrant and Livingston can be another good place to throw hardware. I like Panther Martins for spinners, 1/8 oz or so. I'm partial to yellows, oranges, blacks with a gold blade.

 

[6mm Remington]

If you hit Cody Wyoming you MUST go to the museum there is absolutely amazing. A full day can be spent there alone, if not two!

 

[Chris Sloan]

May have been mentioned, but Stone Glacier and Simms fishing are out of Bozeman. I know guys have dropped in SG, not sure about Simms. Ennis is a must stop for a fly-fisherman. Virginia City is a cool old west town. Drink a Cold Smoke in the Pioneer Bar, ride a wagon or drive up Alder gulch and see ruins of the gold rush. Learn about "3-7-77" and how the miners hung the crooked sherriff and his road agents. Get a huckleberry shake from Virginia City Creamery, was on Nat Geo's top ten ice cream parlors. The Museum is very fascinating. They even got wooden sidewalks! Cool old historic town, if your into the whole wild west thing. Youll get major brownie points.

 

[Cledus]

Sitka gear is also in Bozeman.

 

[2ski]

Sitka gear is also in Bozeman.

As far as I can tell, Sitka is just offices. The building they are in doesn't even have a sign on the building that says Sitka. Maybe they are cool with people stopping in and saying hi. But there is no showroom or anything I don't think.

Stone Glacier guys are very cool. Its not an easy place to find. Accross the street from Murdochs on N. 7th is mini-mall. You have to go to the North side of that mini-mall down the side, take a right when you get past it, and then its the 1st suite in the third? building on your left. I dropped in to buy a hat from them after a girl stole my hat(stupid girls stealing hats), and they were super cool.

 

[Hoytman 88]

Visit Big Sky Archery in Bozeman. Great guys with an Awesome shop

 

[Hoytman 88]

Black Gold sights Tightspot quivers and ripcord are all in Bozeman. All great people

 

[2ski]

Visit Big Sky Archery in Bozeman. Great guys with an Awesome shop

I like the other archery shop myself. Though I bought my FHF stuff through Big sky

 

[Cledus]

bump! any more info guys?

 

[Chris Sloan]

Montana Ale Works, in bozeman, is a very cool restaurant/sports bar built in a old train depot. 40+beers on tap( with their own menu), awesome food, and several pool tables made this a favorite eating joint. Good place to take the mrs. for dinner.

 

[Lil dude]

Unless you plan on hiking into the backcountry of yellowstone then I would avoid it at al cost.........morons morons and more morons along with all the accompanying NPS regulations to keep all these morons safe. After October it is a decent place to run around but no way now. It is utterly insane. Montana is so full of wide open space you can't go wrong anywhere for fishing hunting hiking and scenery. It takes awhile to figure things out but you gotta start somewhere. If you are dead set on Jellystone then go in via the Beartooth HWY (as mentioned) and just sneak into the Lamar Valley. The last time I was in there the morons were taking photos of my 2 year old in his blue bear onesie that he wears camping. This is while we were on the side of the road watching some wolves hunt.

 

[Bluemoon]

I'm heading to the Dubois Wyoming area in late July. Theres plenty of fishing available right outside the campground (Brooks Lake)though I would love some local wisdom on the Wind River, back country lakes, etc. I'm definitely not going there for touristy crowded scenes but am tempted to enter Yellowstone's South Entrance and checking it out for a day just to say I've been there. Will it be a zoo with traffic jams and people galore? Gotta entertain a non-fishing friend who's the host at the campground, shes got to at least make an appearance at the C.G. every day so overnight trips won't work.

 

[wyosteve]

As mentioned, Yellowstone/Jackson/Grand Teton will be a nightmare at that time. They are expecting record breaking crowds this year. Figure it this way, Yellowstone averages about 3 million visitors in the summer. That basically means June, July and Aug. Mostly from mid-June through end of August. 3 million divided by 3 months is a million a month. 30 days in month (avg.) equals about 30,000 a day! Not my idea of fun!

 

[Bluemoon]

Heard that thats not what I'm looking for however I'm getting to stay free for 2 weeks so I gotta do some things with my friend that dont involve fishing. If I go in the Park it will only be for a day. Any ideas for day-hikes between Dobois and Jackson? I'm planning a trip to the top of the Palisades. I'm planning on bear spray being my main line of defence but thinking of carrying a .40 cal Kahr compact for backup. Is that foolish? She has a .44 mag but seems awful heavy for long hikes. The last thing I want to do is shoot a Grizzly but she's afraid of them (there was a fatal mauling 10 miles from her campground in 2014.)

 

[wyosteve]

Just across Togwotee pass about 6 miles is Turpin Meadows. Some good trails right from there. Also, if you are up for it, on the road from Moran Jct. to the south entrance of Yellowstone, just before you cross the bridge on the Snake River (about 20 miles from Moran) is Scheffield Creek. From the campground, you can hike up to an old fire lookout tower. Incredible panoramic views. That hike is about 5 miles, but is uphill about all the way just fyi.