The "Humble Fly" Fishing Shop
307/587-2757 ·
307/250-3301
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Wild Rivers
It's hard to imagine
how much productive water exist around Cody so we'll start with the
wild rivers. The wild rivers we fish out of Cody include:
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The North Fork of
the Shoshone, a river that in the spring fills up with Cutthroat
and Rainbows. A lot of these fish are big, chunky bruisers that can
definitely give your reel a workout. The average fish is 13-15 inches
with numerous fish from 16-20 inches, and yes, there are bigger. Ask
us about lower North Fork float.
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The South Fork of
the Shoshone: This river is mostly private until you hit National
Forest, then you
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have miles of great
hike-in fishing. This river is dominated by brown trout that jump
like rainbows. Then there are Rainbows and Cutthroats, average fish
is 10-15 inches with plenty from 16-20 inches. You always have a
chance at the 21+ inch fish. Ask about our private water
opportunities on the South Fork. There are no float trips on the
South Fork.
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The Clarks Fork of
the Yellowstone: This river runs for miles through National
Forest before it drops into a massive canyon, then exits out to the
high desert. Our guides focus on the lower section where there are a
great numbers of 10-19 inchers, but the reason we love it so much is
for its big fish. This section gets a great salmon fly hatch right
around May or June. This can make for ridiculous dry fly action.
This river, fished properly can surrender fish from 20-30 inches.
This river can be as awe inspiring as any on earth. Ask about our
Clarks Fork float trip. |
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The Greybull River:
The Greybull is the best option, if you are chasing Yellowstone
Cutthroats. This river's lower half is almost completely private.
When you enter National Forest you have over 20 miles of incredible
hike-in-fishing, with fish ranging from 10-27 inches this is a crown
jewel for Cutthroat in America. Ask about our private water
opportunities. There are no float trips on this river. |
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The Wood River:
The Wood provides some of the finest creek fishing in the United
States. With fish ranging from 6" to 24". These critters are all
wild Yellowstone Cutthroats. This piece (aka/peace) of river has
never been fished by guides and very few others have ever been able
to access it. Yellowstone Valley Anglers is proud to offer guided
flyfishing on the Wood River. |
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Tail Waters
In
most great fishing areas around the nation this is where river
descriptions would end, but not in Cody, Wyoming. These rivers,
have become trout factories due to the bottom release dams that keep
water temperatures cool and consistent, which makes better habitat for
insects and crustaceans. This means more food for the trout, which can
do a few things for a river. First a river will have a tail water with
more fish, and on average, larger fish per mile than a wild river in
the same area. Second, if a tail water doesn't have a high fish count,
per mile, the fish you do encounter can be very large. The Humble Fly
offers two amazing tail water experiences.
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The Lower Shoshone: This river runs out of Buffalo Bill
Reservoir located just a few miles west of Cody. The Lower Shoshone
has about 2200 fish per mile on the upper end. The farther
downstream you go, the lower the fish population will get, but that
leaves plenty of food for the remaining fish and these critters get
big and fat. The lower end of the Shoshone in between Cody and
Powell is home to some real monsters. There are four different
sections to the Lower Shoshone with three different floats offered.
There is a section to match almost everyone's taste. This tail water
has some incredible dry fly opportunities in the spring, winter and
fall and when they're not on dries we go down and dirty with
streamers, nymphs and little crustaceans (scuds and sowbugs). This
piece of water has an average fish from 12-15 inches with plenty of
fish from 16-20 inches and they can get much bigger than that.
Rainbows, Brown, Cutthroats, Cutbows and Brookies call this river
home. Ask us about lower Shoshone floats. |
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The Big Horn
River, Thermopolis, Wyoming:
This river has a personality all its own. With a little lower fish
population than the Lower Shoshone it has big strong fish that can
easily show you your backing or snap your tippet. This river usually
requires more skill than the Lower Shoshone does. I believe this is
due to this river being a slow water environment. This gives the
fish a much better chance to inspect and scrutinize our offerings.
This also forces fly fishers into using finer tippets and longer
leaders. This river offers the fly fishers, especially the medium to
high skill angler, an incredible opportunity for big fish on small
flies and light tippet. Probably the toughest challenge in all of
fly fishing and something every angler should experience. This river
is also right next to one of the largest mineral hot springs on
earth. After a long day of fishing, soaking your sore tired bones is
just what the doctor ordered. As us about our Bighorn River
(Thermopolis) float. |
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Private Water
The Humble Fly
provides many miles of high quality private water. We offer eight
miles of private water on the exclusive Greybull River. This water has
an average fish from 14 -20 inches with plenty of chances for fish
21-28 inches. These big cutthroats are up to ten pounds. Anglers catch
once in a lifetime type cutthroats almost every time we go. We also
offer private water on the Southfork of the Shoshone, the Wood River
(big
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cutthroats in a small
stream) and Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone. If you have been coming
out west for long you know the laws about accessing rivers are
different in Wyoming than Montana. In Wyoming private water is
impossible to access unless you have permission or the piece of water
you want to access is floatable. If the piece of water is floatable,
the landowner also owns the river bottom so you can't drop anchor, you
can't step out of the boat or wedge your boat against a rock to stop
yourself to fish a hole. Montana's high water mark rule does not apply
in Wyoming. This keeps private water pristine compared to private
rivers in Montana. Bigger, fatter and more aggressive fish live in
these stretches. This is the main reason our shop works so hard to
supply our clientele with these incredible pieces of water. |
With all
the rivers around Cody it takes hundreds of small streams to fill them.
I won't go into details, but if you prefer smaller streams, Cody is tough
to beat. You would have a difficult time covering all the local
streams in one lifetime. These fisheries supply great dry fly
opportunities and you can have miles of stream all to your self.
The
greater Yellowstone ecosystems wild river and streams offer great fishing
from the time the ice melts through the end of November (of course we do
experience runoff around May and/or June depending on snow pack and
weather). For more information on insect hatches, snow pack and
weather details call us at
307/587-2757.
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