Opening weekend in Yellowstone has come and gone, and with our first few dry fly fish of the season under our belts, we are optimistic and excited about the long summer season ahead.

We enjoyed beautiful weather and some fun fishing for the Park opener. Hatches weren’t as prolific as we dream about on the Firehole, Madison, and Gibbon Rivers, due in large part to the beautiful sunny skies, but rising fish were found on all of our favorite waters. Sparse Pale Morning Duns, Caddis, and Salmonflies were present in varying amounts in all of the usual spots, as were size #12 black beetles. These beetles caught our attention (and the trout’s attention) last year in the early days of the Park fishing season as well, and are a welcome sign along the stream banks on the western side of the park, especially when hatches aren’t in full swing.

More pleasant weather is in the forecast through Sunday of the upcoming weekend. Then, a period of wet, unsettled weather enters the area bringing clouds and rainy weather into the middle of next week - perfect conditions for hatches of Pale Morning Dun and Baetis mayflies.

The best fishing during the next week will continue to be on our nearby favorites, the Firehole, Madison, and Gibbon Rivers. On warm, bluebird days expect to see sparse hatches of PMD mayflies along with caddis and rusty spinners during the mornings and evenings. Afternoons will be a good time to check out some canyon pocket water with a salmon fly, or prospect undercut banks with a beetle. When cool, cloudy weather returns, shift your focus to the afternoon hours to find the best mayfly hatches and actively rising fish.

Warm weather has continued to eat away at our remaining snowpack, and just like we've seen all Spring, most of the moisture seems to be going straight into the ground, and not significantly bumping flows on the western side of YNP. The Black Bear Snotel Site is a good reference for the snowpack in the high plateau above the the Firehole River. Currently, Black Bear shows 36 inches of snow remaining on the ground with a Snow Water Equivalent of 16 inches. You can keep a close watch on the Firehole River flows HERE. Flows remain relatively low for this early in the season right around 300cfs. On the graph you will see a trend indicative of the daily freeze-thaw cycle in the snowpack where afternoon warmth melts the snow bumping flows, and cool evening temps slow that down. 

Many of our other favorites waters in YNP opened to fishing last weekend as well, but water conditions remain too cold, high, muddy, or all of the above.