Intro | Yellowstone National Park | Gallatin Canyon | Lower Gallatin| Map

Yellowstone National Park

The Gallatin begins at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the mountainous country of western Yellowstone National Park. From its remote origin to its meeting with Highway 191—about 12 miles—the river has a few rainbow, brook, cutthroat, and brown trout to 8 or 10 inches. As the river meets the highway, it twists from its forested headwaters and meanders through a narrow, productive meadow that continues downstream to Big Sky.

Much of the Gallatin’s classic, easy-to-read trout water is here. The hills above the river are sprinkled with pine trees and sagebrush, and anglers often see deer, elk, moose, bear, or an occasional bison. During spring and early summer, sandhill cranes strut across the meadow.

The hills above the river are sprinkled with pine trees and sagebrush, and anglers often see deer, elk, moose, bears, or an occasional bison.

The riverbanks are undercut and lined with willows. Aquatic vegetation and insects are abundant, and the fish are in numerous riffles and pools, behind boulders, and under the cutbanks—exactly where you’d expect them. Rainbows, browns, cutthroats, and sometimes grayling are found here. A typical fish in this stretch measures between 8 and 11 inches, but anglers catch a few big browns, mostly near the junction with Fan Creek where Yellowstone fishery biologists sample a few 4- or 5-pound bruisers each year.

Fan Creek is a great place to catch pure-strain cutthroat trout. The best fishing is about three miles upstream from the Gallatin in a meadow stretch. Fan Creek Trail parallels the river and the trailhead is located at a pullout off Montana Highway 191. Expect 7- to 12-inch trout but don’t be surprised, as I have been, by a 17- or 18-inch cutthroat pounding a hopper or ant pattern. Additional tributaries within the Park are Bacon Rind and Specimen creeks, which meet the Gallatin downstream from the mouth of Fan Creek. Expect small trout, but each stream’s meadow stretch holds surprises.

Through the Gallatin’s upper reach, the river rarely ranges out of sight from the highway and has easy access from numerous pullouts. Cast a Royal Wulff or Stimulator behind a boulder, run a Dave’s Hopper or a Parachute Ant along a cutbank, drift a Soft-hackle Hare’s Ear or a Beadhead Pheasant Tail through a riffle, and you’re bound to find trout. In most places anglers can easily cast from one bank to the other.

Mayfly and caddis hatches are solid in the upper reach but terrestrials and attractor patterns take most fish. Patterns such as foam beetles, Dave’s and Joe’s hoppers, Triple Decker Hoppers, Turck’s Tarantulas, Royal Wulffs, and Humpys are particularly effective during the summer and early fall months.

One of the hatches I like to fish on the upper Gallatin is the fall Baetis emergence, which comes off in late September, October, and November, a time when crowds thin and bankside vegetation takes on color. Mornings bring a coat of frost and afternoon temperatures may climb into the 60s, or there could be a snow flurry. It’s a crapshoot every day.

The fall Baetis emergence begins around noon and continues until 4 or 5 p.m. Fish feed in pods, eating every insect on the water. The Gallatin is a cold watershed and a trout’s size is restricted by a short growing season. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the typical Gallatin trout requires five years to grow to 13 inches. For that reason, the fish feed heavily when they get the chance. This is evident during the Baetis hatch as trout put on weight before air temperatures dip below zero and occasionally plummet to 50 degrees below zero. Effective Baetis imitations include #18-20 Sparkle Duns, Compara-duns, Parachute Adams, Pheasant Tails, and Hare’s-ear Nymphs. In the fall, the water is low and clear and 5X tippets are helpful.

Another hatch that is particularly significant upstream from Big Sky and into the Park is Western Green Drakes. This usually begins by the first week of July, just as runoff dips, and continues through the month. Bushy #8-10 Hair-wing Drakes, cripples, and Parachute Adams work well.

The Taylor Fork, which enters the Gallatin from the west just downstream from the Park boundary, can muddy the middle and lower stretches of the Gallatin early in the season during runoff or after summer and fall thunderstorms. Fortunately, the river above Taylor Fork usually runs clear and is fishable even when anglers downstream curse the sky. Taylor Fork itself is worth checking out, especially if you’re looking for native cutthroats. A gravel road parallels the Taylor Fork for several miles and browns and cutthroats can be found there. Upstream, where Taylor Fork and Cache Creek meet, the fishing can be phenomenal. Look for native cutts up to 14 inches.

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