Post Fish Fight Reward with Guide Pat Duffy
Montana
Hebgen: Hebgen Lake is currently full. The lake is beginning to clear up well. Stripping buggers/leeches or nymphing under an indicator will be your best option on the lake. With leeches and buggers, switch up your retrieval until you find something the fish like.
Flies: #8 Black or Olive Simi Seal Leech, #6 Flash-a-Bugger, #6 Olive or Black Hot Bead Leech
Flows:
Inflow to Hebgen Lake: 2,354 cfs
Hebgen Lake Outflow: 2,942 cfs
Kirby Flows: 3,800 cfs
** Flows as of 12 pm June 19, 2022
Upper Madison: The Upper Madison is high and off-color, but walk/wading is still productive. Don’t just wade right into the river, fish the bank Doc! The fish are right on the bank in this high water. Nymphing a two-fly setup will be your most productive method right now. Dead drifting a big stonefly /nymph combo under an indicator has been the go-to. Keep an eye out for fish-eating baetis, especially on the cloudier afternoons mid to late week (yes, we’re still seeing risers). Early mornings and then later evenings have been the best for streamer action.
Flies: #6-8 Sili Legs, #16-18 Olive Hare’s Ear, #14-16 Ram Caddis, #18 Higas SOS Midge, #18-20 BWO Loop Wing, #6 Black Woolly Bugger, #6 Black/Purple Sparkle Yummy, #6 Olive Sparkle Minnow.
Gallatin: The Gallatin right now is high, cold and off-colored. With the park section closed to fishing your best bet will be from the park boundary to Taylors Fork. There’s a whole bunch of muddy water coming out of the Taylors Fork so your best bet will be upstream. But if you do choose to venture out to the Gallatin, nymphing will be your best bet.
Yellowstone National Park: – Closed until June 22
The park is expected to open back up at 8 am on Wednesday, June 22. The entrances that are expected to open are the West, East, and South entrances. North and Northeast entrances will still be closed due to flooding damages.
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Peter Greubel
Author