Yellowstone Park Fishing Report

Do you find these reports helpful? We don't sell flies or otherwise make money off of them, so we humbly ask that you consider Buying Us a Coffee. Also, if you've got the funds, you can...

Book a Trip

...or refer us to your friends.

This Yellowstone Park fishing report is valid from December 5 until late January.

The Yellowstone Park general season is now closed until spring 2026!!!

The only open waters right now are the Gardner below Boiling River and the Madison from the upstream-most MT-WY border near the Barns Pools. What do we mean about “upstream-most?” The river meanders predominately north in this area, crisscrossing the MT-WY border and even the YNP-MT border. Since the Montana season is open, the park keeps the river here open year-round to make enforcement easier.

Gardner River

The upper Gardner is closed.

The middle Gardner between Osprey Falls and Boiling River is open, but hard to access and very cold. Ice will be a problem, and you’ll probably have to post-hole off-trail through snow to get here. Probably not the best idea.

The lower Gardner below Boiling River never ices up and is the best bet until at least late February. Warmer water leads to more active fish. Fish a stonefly nymph or multi-role bug like a TJ Hooker trailing an egg, BWO nymph, or midge pupa. This rig works from late September through at least April on the Gardner… Midsize Woolly Buggers may also be worth a shot. Hatches will be fragmentary but may occur through the winter.

Beware of brown trout redds. Most will now be unoccupied (and all will be by early January), but the eggs and fry will still be in the gravel until February. Any suspiciously clean gravel should be avoided as a place to wade. No point in C&R when you trample through a redd and kill a few hundred of the next generation!

Hatches: Midges and tiny winter BWO.
Dry Flies: #18-20 Purple Hazy Cripples and Gray Baetis Triple Wings, Griffith’s Gnat, tiny Paracute Adams.
Nymphs & Wets: A stonefly or stonefly/nymph hybrid (TJ Hooker or Jig Zirdle) in #6-10 trailing a #18-22 midge larva or pupa, #18 BWO, or #18 egg.
Streamers: Dead-drifted Woolly Buggers and the like. On ugly days, slow-strip a Bugger or Kreelex in the shallower pools.

Streamflow data graph for the Gardner River in Yellowstone Park

Gardner River – Flow

Yellowstone River – Black Canyon

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Note: Check the Lamar River streamflow graph below before fishing this stretch of the Yellowstone. The Lamar gauge is near the Yellowstone confluence, so sudden spikes at this age suggest muddy water is incoming in the Black Canyon.

Yellowstone River – Grand Canyon

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Note: Check the Yellowstone Lake Outlet flow graph below. Except following sudden thunderstorms, the Grand Canyon is usually fishable for the season once flows begin dropping in mid-late June. They may be fishable before, too, if overall flows are below normal, but even during high water years, the Grand Canyon clears fast once the lake outlet stops rising.

Yellowstone River – Headwaters and Lake to Falls

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Yellowstone River at Yellowstone Lake outlet streamflow data graph

Yellowstone River at the Yellowstone Lake Outlet – Flow

Lamar River, Slough Creek, and Soda Butte Creek

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Note: Sudden spikes in flow in either graph below suggest muddy water either occurring or imminent. The Lamar graph is immediately upstream from the river’s confluence with the Yellowstone, so odds are the entire river from Soda Butte Creek down is muddy if this graph is showing a spike. The Soda Butte gauge is at the park boundary, so a spike there indicates mud that will hit lower Soda Butte in a couple hours and the Lamar and Yellowstone thereafter. Slough Creek is less prone to mud than either the Lamar or Soda Butte.

Lamar River – Flow

Soda Butte Creek – Flow

Firehole River

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Note: The Old Faithful gauge is at the upstream end of the famous section of the Firehole. The West Yellowstone gauge is immediately upstream from the Firehole’s confluence with the Gibbon, downstream of all tributaries both hot and cold. Water temps will be lower and the water clearer the further upstream you travel.

Graph of flow data for the Firehole River at Old Faithful, WY

Firehole River at Old Faithful – Flow

Streamflow Graph for the Firehole River near Madison Junction, WY

Firehole River at Madison Jct. – Flow

Water Temperature Note: The lower Firehole River gets roughly half its water from geyser basins and therefore runs much warmer than anything else in the region. This is good early and late in the season, bad in the middle and even on hot/bright days after early June.

Firehole River trout are used to warm water temperatures and remain active until temps hit 70 degrees on a given day. Even so, when this gauge starts flirting with 75+ for the daily high, especially when nighttime water temps don’t drop below 67, it’s time to start fishing mornings-only upstream from Midway Geyser Basin. Once water temps reach the high 70s and do not drop below 70 at night (or don’t drop under 70 for an appreciable length of time), it’s time to fish only the “small stream” portion of the Firehole upstream from the Old Faithful closure zone, or to go elsewhere.

Firehole River at Madison Jct. – Water Temperature

Gibbon River

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Gibbon River – Flow

Madison River

Closed upstream from the upstream-most MT-WY border crossing.

Downstream is basically all fall-run browns and rainbows. Streamers are tops from a tradition and classiness perspective, but stonefly nymphs, eggs, and San Juan Worms will also work. Note that this water is 3+ hours from here via Bozeman and Big Sky since the park’s interior roads are now closed to cars until mid-April.

Hatches: BWO.
Dry Flies: BWO imitations.
Nymphs & Wets: Various stoneflies, big soft hackles, San Juan Worms, and assorted “junk.” None of this imitates anything. You are “steelhead fishing” for the run-up trout.
Streamers: Woolly Buggers, Zonkers, Sculpzillas, Sparkle Minnows, etc. Swing, strip, or dead-drift these.

Graph of Madison River Flow at West Yellowstone, MT

Madison River Near West Yellowstone – Flow

Park Small Streams

Closed.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Park Lakes and Ponds

Closed.