News from Blue Ribbon Flies

Let's Look into the Crystal Ball!
June fishing 2012.

A few of you have asked us what we think the fishing will be like this coming season and given the snowpack and not foreseeing any wild weather events here's a little prediction of early to mid June. Now don't hold us to this, but based on what we've seen over the last thirty some odd years here she goes.

June in Yellowstone country can provide some outstanding fishing opportunities. Various rivers are in prime condition, pumping out great hatches of mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies and midges. Early season lake fishing can also be great and should NOT be overlooked. One thought must be kept in mind however; runoff can be a factor to consider before hitting any stretch of water. With many feet of snow still left in the higher elevations, an early spring warm up can melt much of that snow raising the water levels on some rivers to unfishable levels. If this happens, anglers should head into the fly shops to get some helpful advice as to where the flows haven't influenced the fishing too negatively. Here's a closer look at a few places.

Firehole River: June is the BEST month to fish the Firehole River. An extremely unique trout stream that is lined with geysers, hot pots, and teeming with wildlife, the Firehole offers tremendous dry fly fishing. In early June, the Firehole is hopefully just seeing the end of runoff and should be clearing more and more by the day. As with all fishing in Yellowstone country, at all times of the year, you need to base when and where each day on the weather. For example a cloudy, rainy day is ideal for Baetis and PMD's to emerge in the afternoon hours on the Firehole. Sections like Muleshoe Bend, biscuit basin, and Fountain flats will have hundreds of fish slurping in adult mayflies. A warm sunny day will have great fishing opportunities in the mid morning with egg laying caddis, and PMD spinners. The firehole picnic area, goose lake meadows, and Mallard Creek are good places for this activity. But as you see regardless of the weather there is almost always something happening on the Firehole in June. A last note: because of the caddis activity, swinging soft hackle imitations is always a great producing technique and we will include several of these imitations in the selection.

Madison in the park: June is also the month to fish this river, and early June is the Best time of the month. A warm, calm evening is best in any of the water upstream of 7-mile bridge. Also be aware of emerging Hydropsyche caddis in the evening as well as PMD spinners. A cloudy nasty day will have afternoon emergences of PMD's and Baetis. Nymphing with large stonefly imitations with a small beadhead trailer can be very effective in all the broken water sections; such as 9-mile hole, barns holes, and 11-mile hole.

The Henry's Fork: With the Ranch section of the river opening on the 15th of June, many anglers looking to fish this majestic river in early June must look to the Box Canyon and to the lower sections of Henry's Fork. In Box Canyon, nymphing is the way to go. With very large fish down on the bottom in this deep, fast, rocky environment, fly fishers will be most productive fishing stonefly patterns in tandem with smaller beadhead flies. Keep in mind that if you aren't loosing flies on the bottom, chances are that the offerings are being kept just up above the fishes heads in the swiftly moving water. Feel free to add a little Dinsmore weight to your set up if this is happening to you and your results should improve. Meanwhile, in lower sections of the Henry's Fork, waters are often overlooked and under fished. Often forgotten in the wake of the more famous stretches upstream, this water is best floated. Warm River to Ashton and Vernon to Chester are two floats to consider in your travels. PMD's, baetis, Green Drakes, Gray Drakes, assorted caddis, golden stones and little yellow sallies are all found in great numbers down here. This area is definitely worth considering for at least a day if not more.

Slough, Lamar, and Soda Butte: too early they are still in run-off!!

Hebgen Lake: great midge fishing every calm evening and morning. Again a float tube is needed to maximize your fishing chances but worth it. Try the water on the North shore, such as Rumboagh Bay, cherry creek and the South Fork arm. Great dry fly fishing as big trout go in search of emerging midges!!! Madison River: more than likely the river will be somewhat off colored from run-off, but if you can look past the stained water there is tremendous fishing potential to be had. Because of the higher, more turbid water, the fish migrate into shore to look for sculpins and stonefly nymphs being scoured up from the bottom dwelling homes. Chuck and Duck Montana style, has never been better! Try streamers dead drifted in all the pockets right along the shoreline. Great fishing with no crowds. So there it is only time will tell??