Insects and other foods the trout may be eating:
1. Blue-winged Olives
2 . Sculpin, baitfish and small crayfish (Imitate with streamers)
3. Little Brown Stoneflies
4. Quill Gordons
5. Blue Quills
6. Little Black Caddis
Blue Quill Emergers - Part 2
As I mentioned in the Blue Quill nymph article a few days ago, the Blue Quill nymphs
migrate to slower, calmer water before emerging. They usually make several
attempts to emerge before they get through the surface skim to dry their wings..
Cripples are very common during the hatch. It is similar to a Blue-winged Olive hatch
in that respect.
The emerging nymphs may have to swim to the surface several times before
shedding their shucks. This is especially true when the hatch first starts and the
water is still cold. They have a difficult time shedding their shucks and breaking
through the surface skim, especially if the water is very calm. This makes the
surface skim tighter and more difficult for the small mayflies to penetrate.
The Blue Quill hatch usually occurs during the early afternoon during the warmest
part of the day. That's normally from about 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM this time of the year.
Like many other mayflies, the largest hatches usually occur on cloudy days of low
It's difficult to detect the trout feeding on the emergers. If the water is very shallow,
you may see the fish dart in and out, but if there is any depth to it, you may not see
anything. More often, you will see a flash of the fish feeding on the emergers.
If the water suddenly warms above 50 degrees or higher during the hatch period,
the trout may eat the duns better than the emergers. This makes it a lot easier on
those anglers that need to see their fly in order to detect a strike. The emerger
patterns require a lot of concentration. You can easily miss takes. At times,
especially when the water is very cold (from 50 degrees down to 45 degrees), the
emerger imitations may the only thing they will eat.
Unweighted Imitations of the nymph can be used to imitate the emerging nymphs,
although we think the emerger patterns outproduce the nymphs once the hatch
starts. Fish the emerger imitations without any added weight by casting them up and
across the current on the swing.
You want the fly to stay in the smooth, slower water on the outside of the current
seams, not the fast water. It's best to throw a slack line, pile or reach cast. Mending
your line will usually spook the trout in the shallow water the Blue Quills hatch in.
These slack line cast allow the fly to stay in the smooth, slow moving water longer
without you fly line and leader getting caught by the fast water and yanking the fly
out of the slow water..
Remember, it is difficult to get close to these areas without spooking the trout and
you are unable to keep most of your fly line out of the water like you can do on
shorter presentations. You will need to make longer cast than you normally would
for deeper, faster water areas of the streams.
Down and Dirty (some are clean) Tips and Recommendations for Fly
Fishing Destinations - Part 29
Just keep in mind that it is strictly one opinion that happens to be mine. The intent is to hopefully
give those interested a general idea of what to expect. Most likely every guide, affiliated business
entity and local angler will have a different opinion. These streams also have full coverage on our
Perfect Fly Stream Section.
Gallatin River Montana
The Gallatin River begins in Yellowstone National Park at a high elevation. It's one
of the park's coldest streams. It's usually late June or early July before it's warm
enough to fish. There's about twenty-five miles of the stream inside the park and
another seventy-five miles outside the park.
The section inside the park and the canyon sections outside of the park are about
as beautiful as a small trout stream can get. It does have a highway, #191, that
follows the river closely. This is the only distraction but it does make it easy to
access. The section outside the park provides a very diverse fishery. Parts of the
river can be fished from a drift boat.
Although the trout inside the park are generally on the small side, you will
sometimes be fooled with a large one. The trout in the lower sections of the Gallatin
River average a larger size.
We have two separate sections on this river in our Perfect Fly stream section. This
four page section is on the section inside Yellowstone National Park. This section is
on the section of the river outside the park.
We consider the Gallatin River a first class "A" rated trout stream. I could rave on
and on about its quality with very little, if anything, to complain about but I won't
repeat what's in the above linked articles.
2011 James Marsh