June 3rd, 2023
Yellowstone Lake is not only the biggest lake in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) but is also the largest high-elevation lake in North America. It has an average depth of 140 feet and 141 miles of shoreline. Cold water temperatures will give you hypothermia in minutes and nasty weather is almost guaranteed. Why would I venture out on the lake in a small pontoon boat all alone?
Yellowstone Lake is home to my favorite species to catch on a fly rod. The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (YCT). I also love the challenge of a new fishery and all the feelings that come when exploring a new water body. This led me to explore Yellowstone Lake with a fly rod.
Yellowstone National Park is probably my favorite place to fly fish. It is on many trout fisherman’s bucket lists with so many diverse fisheries combined with unbelievable scenery and wildlife.
I love the park so much that I made it the place I proposed to my angel of a fiance. Yes, it is a beautiful location and made for a special moment. But my goal was to have an excuse to keep us close to the park for the rest of our lives. She would be the first to tell you, all my decisions have fishing in mind.
Seriously though fishing YNP is very special to me like it is to many other anglers. It is a goal of mine to explore the many fisheries the park offers this summer and I thought no better place to start than Yellowstone Lake.
The day started with an early morning drive through the park from West Yellowstone. If you get up early enough, you can dodge the crowds and drive through the park at sunrise. This in itself makes the day. The bison and elk with geyser backdrops will never get old.
I arrived at Bridge Bay Marina around 8:30 AM to get my boat inspected and buy my boating permit. The park service requires an invasive species check and I had to buy a $20 boating permit to be on the lake. I met a fellow fisherman buying his fishing license at the station. He had just retired and got a job at the boat dock for the summer. This has been a dream of his for his whole life, retiring and fly fishing an entire summer in the park. I wish the best for him.
The lake was silent as I rowed out from shore. Dark clouds rolled over the lake, no anglers in sight, and calm winds. It was eary being out on my pontoon boat on such a big lake. The doubt started creeping in as I made my first few casts of the day.
Is this a good area to fish? How are the fish going to find my flies in such a big lake? How deep is it here and am I deep enough? What if the weather turns bad? Why isn’t there anyone else fishing?
Then my bobber went down…
The first fish of the day was a plump 14-inch Yellowstone cutthroat. It silenced all the doubts in my mind and reminded me why I was out there. To explore. The fear of the unknown is part of the fun, so embrace it.
I spent the morning fishing an indicator setup with a leech and chironomid at a depth of 8 to 10ft. I caught three fish in the first few hours, including a beast of a cutthroat. The fight this fish put up was impressive, and it took me a while to drop it into my net. This fish had been eating well and had the muscle to show for it. No wonder he put up the fight he did.
The fishing slowed down in the middle of the day. I seemed to lose my flow, the doubts came creeping back, and the fish were nowhere to be found. This lasted between noon and 2:30 pm until a heavy rainstorm forced me to paddle back to shore and find cover. A few conventional anglers had come out to fish in the area, but I only saw one other fly angler the whole day.
I did have a young bull elk come to the water’s edge and get a drink. One of my favorite parts of fishing in the park is the wildlife you witness while fishing. It was unreal to see this elk in close range from my pontoon boat.
The rainstorm consumed that area of the lake for the rest of the afternoon so I took a break and explored the neverending shoreline. I finally settled on a point just off the road. Much different than my morning location. This point had a much rockier bottom compared to a sandy bottom at the other location. It also seemed have clearer water and was more exposed to the wind.
I had a good feeling about it by the look of the area. When I saw an 18-inch cutthroat belly up on the bottom of the lake, I figured someone had caught fish here. Too bad they mishandled it, but a good sign that there were fish in the area.
In two and a half hours of fishing at this point, I landed two solid cutthroats. A colored up 16-inch and a chrome 19-inch fish. I even had an audience of tourists watch me land the bigger one. What a delight.
Both were very nice fish that I was blessed to come in touch with. This topped off what was my most productive day fishing Yellowstone Lake. My previous three trips ended with two fish, one fish, and no fish. So five on the day was a major accomplishment.
I spent the night camping at a quiet Canyon campground. Many of the camping spots still held considerable amounts of snow, so I got almost the whole D loop to myself. This rarely happens. I ended the day with a peaceful walk down the road, feeling alive as ever.
An amazing start to a summer exploring Yellowstone National Park.
My Setup
I know it may be getting redundant, but I was using the same indicator rod and setup from my other stillwater fishing posts. An Echo E3 10 foot 6 weight with a Scientific Anglers infinity taper weight forward fly line. A level leader made of 3x with a 3-foot butt section of 20lb maxima. I have two tags (one longer than the other) tied off a micro swivel where I attach my flies.
The most productive fly of the trip was a bruised balanced leech. I also caught one on a wine balanced leech with an orange hot bead. The beautiful cutthroat at the end there ate a size 14 pheasant tail nymph. Yellowstone Lake has an abundant callibaetis population, which is perfectly imitated by big pheasant tail patterns.
What Did I Learn?
Tackling Yellowstone Lake on my pontoon boat taught me to not be scared of big bodies of water. With a little bit of persistence (three previous trips) and breaking the water into smaller pieces, I was able to have my best day on the lake.
My thought process when breaking down the lake into a fishable section follows. The lake recently iced off and knowing cutthroat spawn in the spring, the fish were going to be close to the shore in shallower water. I looked for areas with a deep drop-off where they could feed in the shallows and retreat to the depths if need be. Leeches, chironomids, and callibaetis are food sources these fish see most of the year, so I fished respective patterns.
Once I settled on an area, I trusted my instincts long enough to give my flies a shot at being eaten. I knew it might take a while for a cruising fish to come by my fly, so I was patient when giving the location a chance. Not catching a fish in the first ten minutes does not signal there are no fish around, especially in Yellowstone Lake. Sometimes you just gotta trust in your approach and it rewards you with fish.
What Left Me Curious?
I couldn’t help but wonder about the lake trout population in the lake and the effects it has had on the cutthroat fishery. Any article you find on the lake talks about the negative effects this introduction has had over the years.
I wonder if they ever irradicate all the lake trout from the lake. What a tall task that would be. In such a deep lake that is prime habitat for lake trout, I have a hard time believing they do.
I wish I could’ve experienced the fishery and its tributaries before the lake trout disaster. Of course, I picture thousand of two-foot cutthroats swimming around eating dry flies with no care. I know that couldn’t be true, but witnessing it in its native state is a dream of mine I’ll sadly never see.
Thank you to those working hard in YNP on this issue and the many other projects preserving the fishiest National Park.
