Matt Klara | Sunday, 3 June 2018
This week I'm passing the FP mic to my friend Steve Hoovler. Steve has fished around Yellowstone Country for over 20 years and is a guide-and-more for Big Sky Anglers in West Yellowstone, Montana. I'm excited to share his piece with everyone on Sexyloops because, to me, the Salmonfly is a fascinating insect and a bit of an icon of fly fishing in the western US. I know that in Europe, if I said Salmonfly, the first thing one might think of is the Atlantic salmon, maybe a Sunray Shadow, or a waking Bomber. In Montana, it's a different story alltogether. So, I'm hoping that our international readership enjoys this and learns something new!
By Steve Hoovler
The venerable king of all hatches in Yellowstone Country, the Salmonfly Hatch lives in infamy among fly anglers world wide. Nothing generates more excitement, for both fish and fishermen alike than salmonflies, and with good reason. The chance to see a wild trout rise to the surface and inhale a three inch long insect (or better yet, your three inch long fly) is the stuff that fly fishing dreams are made of.
Salmonflies are not unique to Yellowstone Country. Pteronarcys californica (Tare-uh-nar’-sis cal-uh-for’-nuh-kuh) is found throughout the American West, and its diminutive cousins are found across North America. What sets Yellowstone Country apart from other areas is how long the bugs are active during our season. From Mid-May through the end of July you can find salmonflies somewhere within striking distance of the Big Sky Anglers World Headquarters in West Yellowstone, Montana. Timing this hatch from year to year on a particular river can often be an exercise in futility. On dry years it’s early. On wet year’s it’s late. When the weather is hot, the hatch moves quickly upstream. When the weather is cold and wet, the hatch stalls out.
Generally speaking, we see the first big bugs of the year in mid to late May on some of the area’s warmer waters like the Henry’s Fork and Firehole. As the activity is winding down on those rivers, we start to look to the Madison. Finally, we turn our attention to the high country, and rivers like the Yellowstone and Gallatin which are usually the last to warm up and clear from run off. Everything about this hatch is big. The bugs themselves are massive. Mature salmonfly nymphs have two stout tails, a dark chocolate brown coloration, and can reach a length of nearly three inches. Fly imitations are a whopping size 4-6. It takes 3–4 years, a virtual eternity in bug years, for the nymphs to reach their impressive size. This means that there are always multiple year classes, and multiple size classes of nymphs in the river at any given time.
The volume of insects can be staggering. Nymphs migrate to the stream bank of select areas in preparation to emerge, and it’s not uncommon to find handfuls of them under a single rock along the bank. To emerge, mature nymphs will crawl out of the water (usually at night) onto riparian rocks and vegetation to molt into winged adults. When conditions are right (warm, sunny, windy), clouds of adults swarm upstream in tremendous mating flights. Salmonflies love big water.
These studly bugs require a ton of oxygen, and they’re well-equipped with large, strong appendages to hang in rough, turbulent water. Luckily, from the Madison’s fifty-mile riffle to canyon sections on the Henry’s Fork, Yellowstone, Firehole, Gallatin and many more, we have no shortage of this type of water in Yellowstone Country.
Big fish love these big bugs. On several Yellowstone Country rivers this is one of the very few times of the season that you can find the largest fish of the system feeding aggressively. Big bugs and big fish can also draw some of the biggest crowds of the season. Boat ramps and fishing access sites fill to capacity as guides and anglers hope to catch the hatch just right.
As the hatch moves upstream through a system there’s an imaginary line of “good fishing” that moves with it. Ahead of the line, the fish aren’t looking for the adults yet, but are keying on the nymphs. Behind the line, every fish is gorged on adults like a family sitting on the couch after a gluttonous Thanksgiving dinner, and not feeding. Further behind the line, fish have had some time to digest, and start to head back for second and third helpings.
The salmonfly hatch epitomizes everything in Yellowstone Country that anglers dream about – big landscapes, big rivers, big fish, and big hatches.
Steve Hoovler grew up fishing in Pennsylvania and was introduced to Yellowstone Country by one of his high school teachers. What a deal! Our high school teachers introduced us to math homework and Charles Dickens. Steve attended Penn State University where he was a charter member of the Penn State FlyFishing Club, an organization which continues to, “provide all members of the University community with the opportunity to further their knowledge and enjoyment of the sport of fly fishing.” For the past 10 years, Steve has been an outfitter in Montana and Yellowstone National Park, guiding on world-class waters like the Madison, Yellowstone, Missouri, and the back country of Yellowstone Park. Steve’s favorite fishing partner is his son, Jack, and despite being a really smart guy with generally good judgement, he loves rooting for his Philadelphia Phillies.