Yellowstone Park Fishing Report

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This Yellowstone Park fishing report is valid from May 24 until about June 10, 2026. The Yellowstone Park general season is now open, though some closed waters remain. The Upper Yellowstone from Chittenden Bridge up is the most important of these.

Gardner River

The upper Gardner is too cold, even if it’s clear enough. Expect this to come in around June 10-15.

The middle Gardner between Osprey Falls and Boiling River is open, but it’s cold. If it’s clear enough, fish stonefly and attractor nymphs in the bigger pools.

The lower Gardner below Boiling River is much warmer and it’s a great bet as long as it’s more green than brown. Fish stonefly and attractor nymphs on short lines. Skip the indicator if you can, but also skip the “Euro” rod. Fish a standard six-weight with a 7.5′ 2X leader and pick those bankside pockets, including many you think are too shallow.

Hatches: Unlikely.
Dry Flies: Unlikely.
Nymphs & Wets: Your favorite stonefly and junk fly patterns in #6 or #8 (Minch Stones, Girdle Bug, “Turd with a Tail”) trailing a #12 attractor nymph like a Prince, Bead Hare and Copper, or 20-Incher.
Streamers: Nymph/streamer crossovers like TJ Hookers (aka “Turd with a Tail”), Zirdles, or Woolly Buggers fished like nymphs.

Streamflow data graph for the Gardner River in Yellowstone Park

Gardner River – Flow

Yellowstone River – Black Canyon

Dirty.

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

Unlikely to be too dirty to fish. Streamers and nymph rigs are by far the most likely suspects until mid-June, but you might find a few risers in the Boulder Fields. Mother’s Day Caddis are the most likely hatch, but you can get away with matching it with something like a Coachman Trude or Clacka Caddis. Don’t fish dries unless you see fish coming up. Fish the big eddies and boulder fields regardless of which flies you use.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets: Same nymphs as mentioned for the Gardner.
Streamers: A #4 or #6 Woolly Bugger with a #10 or so on the dropper. Fish combinations of black, olive, tan, brown, and white or gray/white flies, one black or white and one drabber. You can also run a big soft hackle on the dropper.

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

Muddy.

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

Normally the best “match the hatch” bet in the region this time of year, but a large-scale closure due to a bear attack put a damper on things for most of May. Most of this closure has now been lifted, but it’s important that you keep up on the closure area in case it’s reinstated for some reason. Here’s the news release & closure area.

Fishing will be best in the mornings and maybe evenings this week due to high afternoon temperatures that will send water temps into the 70-degree range. Bright skies will be a bummer, too.

Fish soft hackles in the “main” Firehole from Biscuit Basin to Firehole Cascades. I often fish nothing else here. White Miller and Glasshead PT Soft Hackles (aka Firehole Pheasant Tails) are a good place to start. Nick’s Soft Hackle is also a good one. Really any soft hackle or even traditional wet flies like the Cow Dung or Light Cahill Wet are good things to try. All should be #12-16, heavy on the smaller sizes.

If it’s really bright, the fish may hunker on the bottom and it will make more sense to nymph the geyser rock ledges. The same soft hackles can work, as can Pheasant Tails, etc.

PMD and especially White Miller hatches are taking over from the BWO and Mother’s Day Caddis. If you’re seeing a few splashy rises, fish a White Miller dry (Palmered CDC & Elk) with a soft hackle dropper. Only if there’s a ton of rising fish should you double up on dries. Compound hatches are possible, so fishing a caddis with a PMD behind it is a reasonable choice. Caddis are more likely if it’s sunny, PMD if it’s cloudy.

In the canyon, look for stoneflies fluttering around, but expect to catch most fish on Princes and similar.

Hatches: PMD, BWO, White Miller Caddis, Mother’s Day Caddis, Hydropsyche aka Tan Caddis, a few Salmonflies and Golden Stoneflies in the canyon.
Dry Flies: #14 Blond Palmered CDC & Elk, #14-16 White Miller Cripple, #16 Olive X-Caddis, #16 PMD Sparkle Dun, #16 PMD Emerger of your choice.
Nymphs & Wets: #14-16 Glasshead Soft Hackle PT, #14 White Miller Soft Hackle, #16 Tan Nick’s Soft Hackle, #14-16 Partridge & Yellow, #16 Pheasant Tail, #16 BH Prince, #16 peacock Blowtorch
Streamers: Small Woolly Buggers in the morning or under cloudy skies.

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

The headwaters will be clear enough, but still very cold. Fish attractor dry-dropper combos in the afternoons for the small westslopes and bigger but spookier grayling here.

In the meadows downstream of Norris, fish streamers unless you see rising fish (unlikely for another couple weeks).

In the rougher water below Norris, fish attractor dry-dropper combos. A #12 Trude, #10-12 Synth Double Wing, or #12 gold Chubby Chernobyl are good places to start. Run a #16 Prince or variation on a Prince such as the wire-bodied Montana Prince as your dropper, or maybe something like a Blowtorch. Cover water quickly. The pockets are usually better than the pools, since the pools vacuum a lot of the pressure. Stonefly and caddis hatches are possible, but they seldom need to be matched more closely than the dries already noted.

Hatches: Unlikely in the meadows. In the canyons, there may be a variety of caddis and stoneflies, as well as a few Green Drakes and big midges.
Dry Flies: Down-wing attractors in #10-12. Fish something buoyant and visible, but not huge. The precise pattern seldom matters too much.
Nymphs & Wets: Peacock or sparkly-bodied attractor nymphs in the #14-16 range. If it’s really dead, you might nymph with a 20-Incher trailing one of these attractors.
Streamers: Woolly Buggers and Zonkers in the meadows.

Gibbon River – Flow

Madison River

The best water will be from Madison Junction to 7 Mile Bridge. The water closer to West Yellowstone tends to be a nursery or spawning area, rather than holding too many adult residents.

If nothing is happening, swing a Woolly Bugger with a soft hackle dropper, or two soft hackles. Or go to the Gibbon. If you see rising fish, they’re likely taking either PMD or caddis, though some Salmonflies will hatch soon in the rockier and faster areas.

Hatches: PMD, BWO, Mother’s Day Caddis.
Dry Flies: Match the hatch exclusively.
Nymphs & Wets: Similar to Firehole.
Streamers: Woolly Buggers, Zonkers, Sculpzillas, Sparkle Minnows, etc. Swing or strip these.

Graph of Madison River Flow at West Yellowstone, MT

Madison River Near West Yellowstone – Flow

Park Small Streams

Too cold.

Hatches:
Dry Flies:
Nymphs & Wets:
Streamers:

Park Lakes and Ponds

On Yellowstone Lake (ice-free) and the big lakes in the Lewis System (which may not yet be ice-free, though they will be soon), fish Woolly Buggers or baitfish-matching streamers such as gray & white Double Bunnies.

On the grayling lakes, you might see chironomid hatches, but they will intensify around June 10. Instead fish a #10-12 black or olive Woolly Bugger or leech under an indicator. Trail it with a little soft hackle, Driscoll’s Midge, BLM or other slim, small, and somewhat flashy nymph or wet fly. Twitch these slow or fast depending on what the fish want.

Sight-fish for cruisers on Trout Lake using similar methods, or troll a leech from a float tube if you’re boring. Don’t snag an otter or tourist.

Joffe Lake will produce on similar flies to the grayling lakes, as well as classic brook trout streamers like the Mickey Finn or local equivalent the Joffe Jewel. We’re more inclined to strip flies on Joffe vs using the indicators.

Blacktail Ponds remain closed.