It's hard to believe, but winter has turned into summer in Yellowstone Country, and once again it's time for the beginning of another fishing season in the Park. Opening day is tomorrow, and anyone who's familiar with the area knows that Memorial Day weekend could yield anything from sun to snow. This year it looks like we're in for sun, and lots of it. The local forecastcalls for highs in the 60's with sun and a chance for thunderstorms through the weekend. Warm weather continues to bring down our healthy snowpack making most area rivers high and stained.

I always look forward to fishing the Firehole in the spring. Epic emergences and eagerly rising trout are the perfect way to start the season. Unfortunately, it looks like we might have to wait a bit for consistent top water action on the old Firefox this year. I cruised into the park this morning to check on the river and found the water to be slightly over the bank and heavily tea-stained. I think the clarity is defintely fishable, but the flows are awfully strong. As of this afternoon, it looks like water levels on the Firehole have slowly dropped to 661 and show a downward trend. Flows just might improve over the weekend. Now we need to see that forecast improve a bit and show some skuzzier weather to get those bugs rolling. In the absence of clouds, our best bet will be to hope for small emergences of PMD's in the mornings, and caddis in the evenings.

The Madison has been open for almost a week now, and warm weather has taken its toll on water clarity here too. Below Hebgen Dam (where construction continues to repair two broken headgates) clarity is great until you get below Cabin Creek. From Cabin downstream the river has its classic "half-and-half" color as the river right bank resembles cream and coffee, while the bank opposite Cabin Creek remains clear for a good way downstream. Fishing is consistent in this stretch with small nymphs, but anglers need to take extra care not to fish or wade over spawning fish and/or reds.

Mud from Cabin and Beaver Creeks has finally pushed its way through Quake Lake making the river below off-color as well. Adventurous anglers can find some good fishing close to the bank with a nymph combo of a large rubberlegs and a san-juan worm.

How long run-off will last on the Madison is anyone's guess. However, a good resource to help guage snowmelt is the carrot basin snotel site. Carrot basin drains into Beaver Creek, and is generally a good representation of the source of run-off. As of today the site reports 76 inches of snow on the ground.  With warmer weather we could see levels drop as much as 3-6 inches per day. regardless of the rate, we'll have muddy water until that number reads zero.

One fishery that isn't affected by run-off, and has fished well is Hebgen Lake. The ice has been completely off the lake for over a week now, and fish are on the hunt for food after a long winter.  Shallow gravel shoals right along the bank are a great place to look for cruising fish. Sight fish to these browns and rainbows with small leech and beadhead patterns. As water temps slowly warm over the next week, we should start to see midges. Once these big spring midges start to emerge, we'll see consistent dry fly fishing each morning and evening when the weather is calm.

 Stay tuned. Now that the season is fully upon us, and I've scratched that saltwater itch (a little bit) it's time to get rolling. Look for more regular posts here, as well as some exciting new trips over on www.oarsmenexpeditions.com.