Just booked three float trips. One on the Madison in August, one on the Yellowstone River outside the park and one on the Snake in Idaho 30 minutes from West Yellowstone.

Anybody ever fised the Snake and Yellowstone? I have done the Madison. There will be lots of walking trips, slough creek, soda butte, lamar, gallatin and gibbon too.

I've fished the Snake a bunch, the Yellowstone not as much. Not sure I have been on the same section of the Snake that you're going to visit, but I've fished the Henry's Fork, the South Fork, and the Snake upstream of Palisades Dam (pretty much everything from Jackson Lake to the canyon).

One prediction: you're gonna have a lot of fun. PM me if you have questions; I'll be happy to help if I can but of course your guides will definitely be more knowledgeable than I am.

Dude your supposed to let me know so I can make sure and clear my schedule for such trips. The Snake will be epic, very jealous I am.

I have had some remarkable days fishing the Ranch section of The Henry's Fork thru the years. I have also been skunked in that section sometimes, but it is a beautiful place to not catch fish.
Most of my fishing of The Yellowstone was in the park and some of the sections I have enjoyed the most you cannot fish anymore.

I am very jealous as I have always enjoyed visiting this most beautiful corner of the country. I have been fishing it off and on since the early 50's and it has been a few years since I have been there.

Wish I could strap the fly rod to the old BMW motorcycle and head that way again this August.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

I'm leaving July 5th. Itinerary is as follows:

7/6 - Drive from Jackson to Bozeman and wade fish the park. Slough Creek will be on the agenda for sure.
7/7 through 7/9 - Back-to-back-to-back float trips in the Bozeman area. Tentative schedule is to try to hit the Yellowstone, Madison and Gallatin, though if we crush them early on one river, we may double up.
7/11 - Float the South Fork of the Snake.

This will be my first time for all areas, but I should have some pretty good intel before you go.

You might want to contact some place like Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone for current info on "What's hapening now." That first day's drive from Dallas to Jackson will be a killer day. I am too old for that stuff anymore...it would take me about a week to recover.

You might want to stock up on hoppers sometime.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

I'm gonna toss in a recommendation for my boys at Westbank Anglers outside of Jackson on the road to Teton Village. They're a cool bunch and I have had some very successful days on the South Fork with them. The South Fork changes a good bit from section to section but mainly you are going to find a lot of good cut banks between riffles. I'd say bring two rods - a six-weight to toss huge stoneflies or chernobyls at the banks, and a three weight for dries in the riffles.

We stay in West Yellowstone, I always go with Blue Ribbon Flies, Pope has been my guide the last three years.

Henry's Fork Outfitters on the Snake this year.

We will fish Galatin, Slough Creek, Soda Butte and Lamar. I want to fish Duck Creek so bad it hurts, but last two years they have had it closed due to bears.

I have a 5 weight, but thinking I am going to pick up a 4 weight also.

Just checking back in with a report from 5 days of fishing in Wyoming and Montana.

7/6 - Fished inside the park. Several hours on the Madison from near west Yellowstone upstream. Only one whitefish, partner got 4 small browns. A few hours on Slough Creek near the campground and neither of us got anything. We threw every fly we could think of at them, but were relying on advice from a fly shop in Jackson.

7/7 - Yellowstone River from (roughly) Emigrant to Livingston - the whitefish bite was on - I'd say we each caught 20+, with some smaller rainbows and cutts mixed in. We mostly fished green wooly buggers dead drifted with a bead head prince dropper.

7/8 - Yellowstone River from near Gardiner down. Fewer whitefish, more trout. I caught an 18" brown that was the fish of the trip to that point. Dry droppers were working best this day, with most fish caught on the dropper.

7/9 - Yellowstone River from near previous day's takeout down to Emigrant. Got hot for a bit and I landed rainbows of 16", 16" and 18" in pretty quick succession. Decent day of fishing.

7/11 - Green River from Daniel to Huston (paid a $15 "trespass fee" to launch in a spot where I think public access is a ways away). Fewer fish, but by far the big boys of the trip. I had a 20" brown and my buddy had a 20" and a beautiful 22" brown. All dry flies, all day, with the chubby chernobyl and grey drake the best producers.

A few observations:

1. The Madison, which we had planned to fish, was reported to be fishing tough with lots of tubers. We therefore stuck to the Yellowstone for 3 days. I would have liked to have gotten some variety, but trusted the guide's suggestion that we stick to the Yellowstone.

2. I only have one experience, but the salmonfly hatch seems overrated. We caught the Yellowstone smack dab in the middle of it and only had one fish hit a salmonfly pattern on top. They say the fish gorge on the nymphs before the hatch and I believe it. We could knock 50 adults into the water from the willows and watch them float downriver. The fish didn't care. I won't be so careful about trying to time this hatch in future years.

3. The Snake was reported to be slow, hence the decision to fish the Green. Much more mellow river than the Yellowstone. We saw one boat all day and caught our biggest fish of the trip (on dries, no less). If I were going back tomorrow, I would stick to this river. We may have gotten lucky, but it was a very enjoyable day.

We fished with Craig Boyd of Angler's West in Emigrant for our three days on the Yellowstone. He was about our age and had a lot of enthusiasm. He was great for us. On the Green, We had David "Sammy" Samuels with Jack Dennis' new operation. Older guy, didn't provide as much service as I'm used to, but put us on the biggest fish so I can't complain too much.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have ahead of your trip. When the wind picks up, you're going to need every ounce of that 5 weight and may wish you had more rod. There were times where I just laughed as the wind sent my entire fly line into a pile on the water about 15 feet ahead of the boat. 4 weights were fine for single fly setups when the wind wasn't blowing.

Sorry for the long post.

sounds like a good trip, post some pics up when you get the chance.

Awesome. You hit the Green at the right time. I hear that flows had been really high and it has recently come down to something like 1000cfs. In another few weeks it's going to be too warm to fish it all that productively, I suspect. It is an awesome river, and holds lots of those nice, fat browns. When flow is right and the drakes and yellow sallies are hatching on that river the dry fly bite is second to none.

I'll be out that way in another month. Going to fish the Teton River one day, which I'm looking forward to very much.

Glad you had a good trip!