Yellowstone River Cutthroat and Other Trout
Fred Matero is today's guest blogger and has an excellent story to relate.
The Yellowstone
River, at 678 miles, is the longest free-flowing river in the lower 48
states. Between Lewis and Clark and Yellowstone
National Park., the Yellowstone River is rich in history,
but I was there for the trout. Hello, my name is Fred
Matero, and I had the great fortune this summer
to fish this fine river.
At a rate of 500 fish per 1000 feet of
river, the Yellowstone’s prime trout water is the
section from Yellowstone Park entrance out though
Livingston, MT. This area is well known as
Paradise Valley. The valley was carved eons
ago through Gallatin National Forest to the east
and the Absaroka Mountains to the west. The
valley itself is mostly privately owned with a huge agricultural
presence. Access to the river is via multiple public points along Route
89, but it does not hurt to have a terrific friend named Pete with access right across the street and the
knowledge to put us into some lesser known spots. The river is fairly
swift though the valley as it comes out of the park at 7000 feet and drops to
4500 feet though Livingston. Cutthroat trout are native to these waters, but browns
and rainbows stocked long ago are very prevalent.
Put me in control of a spin or bait
caster and I am at home, but it was my intention to fly fish the great river.
As I am less than a beginner when it comes to fly fishing, I relied on the
knowledge of others to get me by. Pete did
a fabulous job showing me the particulars of casting, knots, and fly
choices. A visit to the professionals at George
Anderson’s Yellowstone
Angler in Livingston put me into a license, a few
flies, and a lot of hope.
Fly fishing on the Yellowstone in the summer is an evening game for
sure. Be on the river about 1 hour before sunset and witness the river
beginning to explode with surfacing trout; many leaving the water completely.
Trout can be taken during the day, especially on streamers imitating the local whitefish, but if you want classic top water action,
the best choice is sunset.
Our first evening brought us to the
smaller branch of an interesting split in the river. There was not a lot
of fish evident, and casting a stone fly brought us no results. This was
followed by a move to a bend in the river right near a rest area. Stone
fly and a change out to a Wulff produced interest
but no solid takers for us though the river was very lively with rising
trout. The next outing put us in a very large eddied area below a class 3
rapid. That is where disaster struck as the drag control on my reel
popped and parts disappeared into the river. Fortunately, I also had
packed a collapsible spin outfit and a small
selection of lures. I clipped on a ¼ oz
gold Kastmaster and the second toss put me on a
nice 14” rainbow. This was soon followed by another rainbow of 11 inches.
On my last day, I had the afternoon to
kill, so decided to try a different approach. Returning to the eddy with
a dozen night crawlers, I could not scare up a bite anywhere in the huge hole
below the rapids, even with a switch to various spoons and spinners.
Looking over at the class three rapids, I noticed that close to shore, on the
inside bend, there was some relatively slower moving water with several
deep holes. I threaded a half a night crawler on to a #8 hook.
First cast into the top pool produced a hard fighting cutthroat
of about 15 inches. Working methodically along the rapids edge, I ended
the afternoon with 3 cutthroats, 2 rainbows, and
numerous missed hits; all released to fight another day.
It was not the complete fly fishing
experience I hoped for, but still incredible fun. Kudos to Martin Fly Reels; they offered to fix my reel at no
charge.
