Could be frozen, could be golden... San Diego to Yellowstone in one week.

[conkso]

This all began this past July - I loaded up my camper and lived out of it for three weeks traveling around Montana like a leaf in the wind. I'd meet older gents at the boat ramps and they'd say, "You really need to get to #$%##$$ river - it's fishing really well.", I'd be gone by that afternoon. It was awesome and Montana really messed me up.

So when I came back and told my girlfriend about it, she got all excited and said this Fall we're going to Yellowstone. Obviously she's a keeper. So here I sit freaking out that in a few days I'm going to be hauling @#$ for West Yellowstone. I warned her that at that time of year, snow, freezing rain and cold are huge possibilities but I've also been told that there could be nice, even beautiful Fall weather. But I'm not betting on it.

We've got four days booked at the Madison Campground (strategic fishing location for a campground?) and she knows the routine will be tourist time in the morning, fishing time in the afternoon. After those four days we'll have two days to bop around before we've got to head home.

Any advice for me? Or if you'd like to hook up and fish some afternoon I'll be in the Madison Campground, Sept. 30th - Oct. 4th, White F350 with license plate ELMucho, Four Wheel Camper flatbed camper on the back. Cold beer and whiskey readily traded for fishing tips.

 

[mcnerney]

Sounds like an awesome trip, have fun and I hope you get into lots of fish.

 

[wthorpe]

[QUOTEAny advice for me? [/QUOTE]

Yes. 1. Keep the girlfriend. 2. Madison is indeed a good place, with easy access all up and down Madison in park, Firehole, and gibbon. The provide terriffic combo of dry fly fishing and soft hackle/streamer fishing for lake run fish. do not overlook Lamar valley fishing and Madison outside the park, although with limited time to fish it might make sense to focus on YNP eastside streams. 3. Go to a fly shop in West and get some directions, flies, etc. I like Blue Ribbon Flies; there are 4 or 5 others. 4. Be careful offering free beer and whiskey to this crowd. 5. Weather most likely 65 and sunny. Or 29 and rain and snow. Or both. On same day. Take winter and late summer gear.

 

[silver creek]

If you want to go for big fish, I would target the browns migrating upstream out of Hebgen Lake into the Madison or upstream out of Quake Lake toward Hebgen Lake. Ask the fly shops about the fall brown run. You may not catch anything but you might also catch the fish of a lifetime.

Fall Run Browns On The Madison River | Montana Angler

Autumn brown: Brown trout surge up Madison River for fine autumn fishing | Outdoors Features | billingsgazette.com

Fall Fishing in Yellowstone | Chasing Fall Brown trout - My Yellowstone Park

Brown trout the fall attraction at Yellowstone - The Salt Lake Tribune

If you haven't seen this video, it is Bob Jacklin's "fish of a lifetime" caught between the Quake Lake and Hebgen Lake.

YouTube

 

[conkso]

Ok got it: keep girlfriend, drink whiskey, buy flies, fish like a madman, rinse and repeat.

Thanks gents!

 

[mcnerney]

Ok got it: keep girlfriend, drink whiskey, buy flies, fish like a madman, rinse and repeat.

Thanks gents!

Sounds like an awesome plan!
Dress warm it is cooling off out here:

 

[wthorpe]

Like i said: 65 and sunny. (Unless it snows!!! )

I am going to MT /ID for 10 days Oct. 3. (Missouri, H Fork, Madison, YNP: cannot wait.) This thread has provoked me to ck the "forecast" such as it is for that period: sunny and 50's BUT low 20's every nite. Yikes. Long john weather. And i bet it really does snow then.

The suggestion to fish Between teh Lakes on the Madison for Quake Lake runners is intriguing. Big fish do run up during October. If they arent there, then the location is mediocre. Most reliable way to know the fish are in there (it is about a 2 mile stretch) is that you cannot find a place to fish!!! But if the fish are in there and you can wiggle in somewhere ....

 

[conkso]

Thanks for the weather update. Wow - that's gonna be chilly at night. My truck camper has a furnace, I'll make sure my propane bottles are full. And we'll bring warm clothing, and extra blankets and extra whiskey.

I was in Montana over the summer and I did fish the Between the Lakes section of the Madison. I didn't have any luck but I met some really cool folks and watched a guy hook a fat brown trout on an X-caddis. It was my introduction to Montana fly fishing and it both intimidated me (getting skunked on some of the fishiest trout water this San Diego boy has ever seen) as well as got me all excited (was cool to watch the guy fight and land that beautiful brown trout).

I just bought a one day Wyoming fishing license for the one morning I'm going to wake up in Wyoming (probably near Jackson) which is Sunday 23rd.

I could use a bit of a tip here if you've got one: Is there a campground in the Jackson vicinity (can be an hour or two away - but maybe closer would be better for my girlfriend to walk around and check it out) that has fishing access in it, or walking distance from it?

We're going to be driving from Cedar City, UT and I'm thinking we'll arrive in WY Sat. afternoon along 192 and I'm just think it would be sweet to pull into a spot where I could get us set up and then dip a line the next morning before we head into the park.

Any tips or suggestions greatly appreciated - thanks!

 

[conkso]

How about Hoback Campground? Closes Sept.30th.... are they trying to tell me something (snow)?

 

[acorad]

Spent our honeymoon in CO, WY, and MT, years ago. 3 weeks in late Sept/early Oct. Couple rainy days but that made the scenery and foliage just that much more stunning.

Andy

 

[conkso]

Cool Andy - thanks for the vote of confidence on our timing. I'm sitting here watching my AP Environmental Science kids finish up their exam and I'm freaking out. In a couple hours I'm gonna be jamming up the 395 to fish the E. Walker River and Upper Owens - then it's back home to San Diego and off to Yellowstone. The suspense is KILLING me!

Just found out (thank you magic Google machine) that Jackson town center has the giant elk arches - my girl loves that kind of thing so it's looking like Sunday brunch in the town square and a bit of the old walk-about to the tourist shops to keep her happy.

Anybody got a lunch/brunch/food-in-general tip for the town of Jackson? Preferably near the town square? Oh - and if there's a must-visit Jackson fly shop near there please let me know. I'm a fly buyer, I'm good for local business.

 

[driftless22]

If you like Tex-Mex, try The Merry Piglets.

 

[mcnerney]

lots of good food places in Jackson, when we are there for lunch we eat at the Wort hotel, great food, but a bit spendy, but what the heck, we don't go there that often.

 

[darkshadow]

Oh man, that's gonna be a great trip. Being in the Madison CG gives you access to pretty much all the park.

2 years ago, I visited West Yellowstone for a week in the beginning of October and had some phenomenal fishing on the Madison, right near the western park entrance. That trip pretty much ruined me, (in a good way) since we don't get that type of opportunities in SoCal.

Pack a variety of clothing! During my visit, snow had just got dumped a few days ago, and mornings were a nice 10 degrees, but it warmed up to about 65 during the day.

 

[Matt4.0]

Not sure when it closes but the Gros Ventre campground isn’t far from Jackson. The Gros Ventre river runs right through it.

As far as food, I can only tell you what not to eat...the sushi joint. Didn’t get sick or anything, just way overpriced and mediocre at best. We only did dinner in Jackson the first night we came through as well.

 

[conkso]

Thanks for the info darkshadow- we're fired up and leaving tomorrow! We will pack super warm clothes and it seems like I picked the right campground. I will report back once I return. BTW: I hear you on being "ruined" - I was camping and fishing in Montana over the summer and I'm definitely ruined too!

 

[conkso]

I'll do some investigating about that Gros Ventre campground - it sounds like what I'm looking for. Thanks for the anti-tip on the sushi spot... I usually save sushi for when I'm home (San Diego) or near another coastline... except for this one sushi spot in Lake Tahoe that has an all-you-can-eat special and its pretty dang good. Too bad I can't remember the name of the spot.

 

[conkso]

Ok we leave tomorrow - gonna make a big push for Cedar City (from San Diego) and then get to Jackson the following day. I already bought a one day WY fishing license so I'm hoping to be able to swing some soft hackles for at least a couple of hours before I have to do the obligatory "shopping" thing. The following day we'll be in the Madison Campground.

Sorry I've been offline and not able to promptly respond but I just did five days of fishing and exploration up in Northern California and "neighboring regions" - it was a great trip camping and fishing in my rig "ELMucho". Here are some fish pics from the trip.



Did some searching and found some empty water.



Swung some soft hackles and found some eaters...



They weren't huge fish but they were willing.

 

[conkso]

Just got home to San Diego. What an awesome trip - even if I didn't hook into the big Fall browns coming up the Madison.

I ended up fishing the following rivers: Hoback, Madison, Firehole, Soda Butte, East Walker (on the way home). I had my best luck on the Firehole where I hooked many fish and landed a bunch of smaller fish (approx. 6 - 8") and one very nice 14" brown.

Fishing in Yellowstone is awesome - the scenery and access can't be beat. Especially the Firehole which, as you know, features lots of weird/awesome hotspring activity right next to it.

We camped at the Madison Campground - which has walking access to the Madison river. It was tough fishing on the Madison while I was there. There were quite a few fly fishermen and all that I spoke to agreed that it was really, really slow. Only one guy that I talked to said he caught fish - a nice brown (he claimed 18") and a good rainbow. Both caught by swinging soft hackles. I'm a soft hackle enthusiast so I felt like I was on the right track, besides, there weren't any significant hatches and the fish weren't eating off the top while I was there with any frequency.

My best fish was taken out of the middle of a riffle on the Firehole - I was swinging two soft hackles (a light one up top and an all black/peacock hurl fly at the bottom) when I got the standard soft hackle bump, I slowly raised the rod to set the hook and instead of feeling the light weight of a small fish, I was hit with a solid, hefty bit of vibrating feed back. The brown ran across the river twice and after a short deadlock (he turned sideways to the current) I had him in the net. He was a beautiful, thick, very colorful brown that I quickly unhooked and released.



The weather was basically unsettled with scattered showers, some sunny days and lots of wind. We drove out to the Lamar Valley and I tried to swing soft hackles on the Soda Butte but, again, everybody I spoke to mentioned how much of a bust fishing had been that day.

We ended up camping at Madison for four days, seeing lots of really cool stuff in the park and having a great time hiking around and, for me, fishing. I was able to fish everyday at least twice, once in the morning and then in the afternoon.

The Madison, while looking extremely fishy, proved to be just brutal. One morning I was throwing a big black leech streamer and I had a fairly nice sized fish follow it to the bank. That was about the most excitement I had on the Madison - oh, and that same morning, ice crystals formed on the guides of my rod - it was so cold!

The Firehole was my favorite river - even though the fish were generally small, it was extremely satisfying to be able to pull fish out of there. I lost quite a few fish with maybe a couple of them going in the 12 - 14" range - I landed a bunch of very colorful small trout.

On the way home we diverted from Salt Lake City over to the East Walker river - I just had to get back on that water again! I went directly out to the spot that I had had success on and started swinging soft hackles. Once again, the hackles were deadly! An older gentleman who had been trying to go with dry flies came by to "just watch" me fish. I instead handed him a couple of soft hackles (flashback pheasant tail soft hackle and a lighter colored fly for the upper fly in the rig) and put him onto the riffle I'd been working - it was super fun to watch him suddenly get into fish!

I ended up walking a bit down the river and found a spot away from the road where the fishing went to a ridiculous level - I was hooking trout two at a time! These were trout in the 10 - 12" range, and they may have been planters (although their adipose fins were intact) but I was basically catching them cast after cast, one trout hitting the bottom fly and then, usually, another grabbing the top fly. I can't wait to get back up there and walk some more of that river.

In all, my girl and I had a great time. I'm heading back to Montana next summer and I may make some time to dip into the park and see how my old buddy, the Firehole, is doing. I also would like to try the Madison again - it just looks so darn fishy!

 

[lookard]

That sounds amazing!

My buddy was just fishing the Madison over the weekend. He said he wasn't able to land most of the big ones, they just know how to get off. I think he was doing a lot of nymphing with big streamers.