Yellowstone River, Montana

Gardiner to Yankee Jim Canyon

The river leaves Yellowstone National Park at Gardiner and runs north along US-89 past Corwin Springs, where the USGS gauge sits, to Yankee Jim Canyon. Gravel bars give good wading once the water drops in July and the Absarokas fill the view. The salmonfly hatch reaches this upper water last, usually in early to mid-July after starting downstream near Livingston in late June.

Paradise Valley: Yankee Jim to Livingston

Below the canyon the valley opens and Montana FWP fishing access sites line both banks: Carbella, Point of Rocks, Emigrant, Mallard's Rest, Pine Creek and Carter's Bridge among them. This is the main float corridor, with the spring creeks of the valley alongside it, and wade anglers work the bars at every access when flows allow.

Livingston and below

Through Livingston and downstream to Springdale the river slows and widens with more braids and cottonwood bottoms. Browns take a larger share of the catch, the town stretch fishes best below about 7,000 cfs, and pressure thins the farther you go from Livingston.

Yellowstone cutthroat

Native Yellowstone cutthroat are strongest in the upper river near the park and must be released from the park boundary down to the Pine Creek Bridge. They are the fish that rise to the Mother's Day caddis in late April and May, to salmonflies and golden stones from late June into July and to PMDs in July and August.

Rainbow and brown trout

Wild rainbows are abundant through Paradise Valley and hybridize with cutthroat in places. They hold in the heavy seams and pocket water of the valley and are the fish most often on the end of a hopper-dropper rig from July into September.

Browns dominate the lower valley and the water below Livingston. October streamer fishing before the spawn is their season; leave the size claims to FWP's surveys, which are the only honest source.

Season and regulations

The Yellowstone is the longest river in the lower 48 with no main-stem dam, so it runs on snowmelt: runoff from mid-May into late June can top 20,000 cfs and it fishes again once it drops below about 10,000 cfs and clears. RiverReports puts ideal wading at 1,500 to 2,500 cfs at Livingston, with wading limited to the edges above 4,000 and floating fine to 10,000; this page compares the Corwin Springs gauge, which reads a little lower than Livingston, to 1,500 to 2,500 cfs. The 2022 flood rearranged channels, so old landmarks may be gone.

Montana FWP Central District rules apply: rivers are open all year, 3 trout daily and in possession with only 1 over 18 inches and only 1 cutthroat, and from the park boundary to Pine Creek Bridge all cutthroat must be released. Any smallmouth bass caught above Springdale Bridge must be killed and reported to FWP within 24 hours. Confirm in the current Montana fishing regulations.