Last June, flooding in and around Yellowstone National Park upended the lives of nearby residents, damaging homes, ranch properties, and roads. It also damaged fishing infrastructure, and made some parts of the Yellowstone River unrecognizable to guides that have been fishing the area for years.
But, from an ecological perspective, the flooding of the Yellowstone River benefitted fish habitat. And for fly fishing guides who have been relearning the river, with its new gravel bars and channels, there are some uncharted areas to look for fish.
Dale Sexton tosses a stick out into the Yellowstone River for his dog at Brogan’s Landing fishing access site towards where a parking lot and boat launch used to be.
Before last year’s floods, he liked to end a day of fishing the Upper Yellowstone at Brogan’s Landing, take out his boat and go for a swim with his dogs and kids. Now, this fishing access site at the doorstep to Yellowstone National Park’s North entrance is virtually unrecognizable.
“There used to be a great sandbar out here. It’s like one percent right now of what it used to be. You could have put 50 people out there, 50 beach towels out there, now it’s just not there. It all got washed away,” he said.
Sexton co-owns Dan Bailey’s, which includes a fly shop and fly fishing guiding service in Livingston. After the river wiped out this fishing access site and temporarily closed about 20 others in the area, Sexton worried about the river's health and that of his business.
“Livingston is arguably the fly fishing capital of the world. It might seem like the fly fishing capital of the world is hyperbole, but really it’s not. The Yellowstone River is foundational and very fundamental to a healthy economy... It’s not just the fly fishing operations; it’s not just the guides, it trickles through the economy," he said.
According to the most recent data from the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research, more than 400,000 tourists a year fish while they’re in Montana, contributing around $1.3 billion in spending.
Matt Wilhelm guides about 50 clients a year on the Yellowstone River through his Yellowstone Fly Fishing School.
“There were all sorts of new challenges. It was a brand new river in a lot of places,” he said.
When the water receded, Wilhelm and his guiding friends hopped in a boat and set out to re-learn the river. Sometimes, they had to get out and pull their boat over freshly created gravel bars or navigate hazardous new whirlpools. They brought a chainsaw in case they had to cut through trees.
“There was all kinds of exploring for a little while in early to mid July when the water came down,” he said.
He takes me to a private ranch on the banks of the Yellowstone River where we can see some of the changes.
“That is a new channel; that’s a pretty significant channel right there. That channel was never there before that bigger one,” he said.
When huge amounts of water barreled through here last June, it cut a new pathway through what was grass and cottonwood trees.
A blue heron flies up the new channel towards overhanging woody debris that was deposited here, a spot where the fish can now more easily hide.
“When that water recedes in July and August you can’t get a boat down those channels, but it still fishes so you can get to it on foot,” he said. “A lot of people will just breeze past it and not drop anchor but if you’re willing to get out of the boat and explore these channels you can have some dynamite fishing."
While he’s looking forward to fishing here, he’s not sure what he’s going to find this summer, given the flooding’s potential impact on juvenile Rainbow Trout.
“Those rainbow trout eggs were just hatching at that time and what I’m worried about is if those fish got washed downstream or if they were injured or hurt or killed or all three,” he said. “I think a lot will be told this summer and next summer as far as the true impacts of what the flood did.
Scott Opitz, a fisheries biologist with Montana, Fish, Wildlife & Parks, says there would have to be multiple years of losses to really put a dent in the population, though a temporary decline could still be possible.
“Last year’s crop of Rainbow are still too small to show up in our surveys, so that still could be the case. The one saving grace with the Yellowstone and a lot of our other systems in Montana is that those fish aren’t restricted to just spawning in the Yellowstone River,” he said.
While this was a once in 500-year flood event, Opitz anticipates fish populations will follow historic flood trends on the Yellowstone River. There may be some declines initially, followed by a rapid rebound.
“In terms of the fish world, a big event isn’t always negative a lot of times, it can be a really good thing in loosening up that stream bed to move sediment out of the gravel so that those areas can be used more efficiently for fish to spawn,” he said.
Opitz compares what happened with the flood to a wildfire event: there can be some negative impacts, but it’s also a reset for the system that later brings rejuvenation.
This summer, anglers are still going to be trying to figure out where the fish are. Richard Parks who owns Parks’ Fly Shop and Guide Service in Gardiner says he’s seen a strong interest from clients who are looking forward to getting back out on the river.
“They’re as curious as I am as the fish are about what the changes are and what that might mean,” he said. “They’re as interested in the possibility of having a new challenge in an old place because it’s been made new again.”
Dale Sexton says after more than 50 years of fishing, he's come to know the river well, like an old friend. Getting to know it again, in a new way, is exciting, he says.
“And trying to keep everything in context and remembering why we all live here so to speak. It's certainly not for the money, it’s for the lifestyle,” he said.
The Yellowstone River crested in late May. It will likely be fishable by the end of the month, but with all of the sediment still there it might take a little longer for the visibility to be clear enough for good fly fishing.
