All Fishing Reports

Yellowstone Park Fishing Report

This Yellowstone Park fishing report is valid January 31 through February.

The park general season is closed. The remaining open fisheries are the Gardner River downstream of Osprey Falls and the Madison near West Yellowstone, basically from the Barns Pools down.

Park Waters are presented in roughly their distance from us, then by water type for generalities like “small streams” and “lakes.”

Gardner River: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025 upstream from Osprey Falls. Open year-round downstream of the falls. Too cold down to the Boiling River Hot Spring (mostly frozen, actually). From Boiling River to the Yellowstone, an excellent choice whenever it’s warm enough for you to tolerate. Fish a midge or midge/BWO crossover pattern, a San Juan Worm (note: Squirmy Wormies are soft plastic and thus considered bait in YNP), or an egg behind a stonefly nymph or nymph/streamer junk fly like a Zirdle or TJ Hooker. Midge or even tiny BWO hatches are common in the afternoons on warmer days. This is where we fish this time of year.

Yellowstone River – Black Canyon: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Yellowstone River – Grand Canyon: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Yellowstone River – Headwaters and Lake to Falls: Closed until July 1, 2025.

Lamar River, Slough Creek, and Soda Butte Creek: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Firehole River: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Gibbon River: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Madison River: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025 from Madison Junction down to the Barns Pools. Open year-round from the Barns Pools to Hebgen Lake. This water is a long way from here. The classy choice is to swing streamers and large soft hackles, but most people will nymph using stoneflies, eggs, worms, and the like. Some rainbow trout spawning activity is possible soon. I have been informed by a senior Park Service employee who shall remain anonymous that “if every bro from Bozeman shows up and Euro-nymphs the redds, I’m closing this.” So don’t do that.

Lewis & Snake Rivers: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Park Small Streams: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

Park Lakes and Ponds: Closed until Memorial Day Weekend, 2025.

 

Yellowstone Park Fishing Report – Relevant Links

Note: We update our general fishing report far more often than our fishery-specific reports like this one, especially between November and April.

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