The Best Fly Fishing Spots in Beautiful Yellowstone National Park

In a region as rich with trout water as the Mountain West, certainly areas inevitably fly under the radar.

But there are some spots that, over time, have become synonymous with Western fly fishing. None more so than Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone is as Western as it Gets

I was rigging up my dry fly rod on the banks of the Lamar when I heard an otherworldly sound coming from the middle of the river.

It was a bison, stopping for a drink no more than thirty feet from me.

Only in Yellowstone.

Fly Fishing in Yellowstone National Park

The amount and variety of trout water in the Park is hard to put into words. I spent a day fishing the Lamar Valley – a small corner of Yellowstone home to enough rivers and creeks to keep even the most passionate trout bum busy for a lifetime.

The Lamar River Canyon

The Lamar is the anchor of the valley – a wide freestone river that offers unbeatable views of the Absaroka Mountain range. Below the open meadow stretches, it cuts into a canyon between dark volcanic cliffs – flowing through a mix of pocket water and deep emerald pools.

I decided to fish the canyon after hearing the meadow was overrun with bison. A whole herd can be tough to fish around, but one was perfect.

Sight Fishing Soda Butte Creek

Soda Butte is smaller than the Lamar, with quicker riffles and tighter banks. It winds through a wide meadow, where big Yellowstone Cutthroats fin in clear, shallow water.

Yellowstone Cutts have called Soda Butte home for more than ten thousand years, and a close-up view of them in their native environment is hard to beat.

Slough Creek’s Technical Trout Fishing

Slough Creek is clear and slow-moving, and it makes for some technical fishing. It’s divided into four meadow sections – Lower, First, Second, and Third. The farther you hike in, the fewer anglers you’ll see.

It’s not the most forgiving trout stream – but if you can get a good drift, it’s as pure a place as any to catch a Yellowstone Cutthroat.

The Legend of Yellowstone Fly Fishing

I stopped for a beer in Cooke City’s Miners Saloon after I got off the water, where I met an older gentleman who wanted to know all about how the Park had fished. He explained he was retired and had driven his RV down to spend the summer chasing trout.

We talked rivers, weather, and bison. He was a lifelong Montanan, and the plan for a summer in Yellowstone had been in the works for years.

Our conversation gave me some ideas for my own retirement.

I can think of worse places to waste a couple months.