Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Yellowsteone and fishing- especially back country

I am heading to Yellowstone end of July with my son. We want to do some back country fishing while there. Looking for any suggestions. I've done the Firehole, Madison et al, looking for something less crowded and different.

Gonna be staying in a travel trailer and fishing our way from SLC to Yellowstone and back.

A couple quick ideas. Fishing the Canyon of the Yellowstone is a lot of fun. Not many guys take the time to get down there. Also, the farther you hike up Slough Creek the less people and better the fishing. The 3rd meadows was fabulous but that was several (5?) years ago and we did see 3 bears so use precaution. Feel free to pm me if you have further questions. I spent a few weeks for several summers fishing in Yellowstone.


ddj

I saw a video one time of a BLACK bear fishing in a stream. The bear caught something like 30-40 fish in 2 hours. I want to find THAT stream!! The stream was only about 4-5' wide!

I don't really want to back pack in and stay a few days- just a few hours and back at night.

Yep, Slough Creek is great but the bears can get thick further up. A big can bear of spray and slower companions are suggested.

Here it is down lower and it's great there too.

That looks really nice there!!

Dennis, it has been 15 years, but second and third meadows on Slough were very nice and my first choice destination. Might also look into Pelican Creek, but it usually had bear closures.

Doug

I drive to Cooke City every week and fish the Lamar quite often. If you are looking to hike back in somewhere, go ahead, I will fish next to the road and catch a ton of nice Cuts. Not many people really know how to fish any river, so fishing near someone, or hiking way back to get away from people, it is your choice. As for me, I would rather fish and catch a bunch of fish than hike somewhere to catch a few and then hike back.

The Lamar is a great river, I fish it a lot. I have a wager with a couple of Cooke City residents as to when it will be fish able. Ryan picked July 8, I picked July 20 and Raz picked July 28. Ryan will not be in the money. The river is high and dirty, and there is still a ton of snow in the high country. That is true for the whole park. The later in July you come, the better your chances are of good fishing.

I am going by there tomorrow, I will look as I do every Thursday and when it clears up I will be stopping, if you are in the area, let me know, I will show you where these really nice fish are...

I realize that I can probably catch nice fish next to the road and I might do that but I am one of those greener grass... kinda guys. I really like to fish the small stuff- 4-8' wide. Never fished the Lamar or Yellowstone river.

I will let you know when I am actually going to be there but it will be the latter part of July.

Think about checking out some of the streams on the west side of the park that flow out into Idaho. I did a few surveys for Harlequin Ducks over the years and had the creeks pretty much to myself. Ate fish for breakfast and supper most every day. That was a while ago, so you might want to check with someone who has been there more recently...

Second meadow is great. Carry an extra rod, 4 + miles of a hike in great fishing. Only saw 4 other people when we were there Aug last year. Upper Gardiner is good for small brookies. Fished near the roads and far from the roads, fishing was good everywhere. Have fun and take in the scenery while you are there. Tight lines..

Don't count on the stories of the meadows up Slough creek being uncrowded. Outfitters have found it is an easy pack trip and they are taking horse trips up Slough Creek all summer. The days of solitude on Slough Creek are a thing of the past.

Here are the conditions as of today...

The first picture is of the Yellowstone about 5 miles south of Livingston.




This is the Yellowstone about 5 miles north of Emmigrant. The water in the foreground is part of the Yellowstone flooding the meadow. The river can be seen in the far background.





This is the Lamar where Soda Butte Creek flows into the Lamar.



These are the mountains on the way to Cooke City. There is still a lot of snow, more than any year in recent history. The end of July will be pushing the good fishing. If the water does clear then, you will hit some fantastic dry fly fishing. When the water stays up that high, that late into the summer, the fish will bite anything.

I will still be fishing by the road and catching a ton of fish that others don't even know are there...