It has been over three and a half decades since I started fishing Yellowstone Lake from shore. Once I found Sand Point, I never left for years. I was already a hardware and bait fisherman when I moved to Bozeman. Once I learned about Jakes spin-a-lures from a successful spin fisherman on Sand Point, I never looked back. We would catch 10 or more fish per hour by wading out in chest waders and casting as far as we could and doing a “jig-pause” type retrieve. I still use the gold “money clip” when strikes become scarce.
It was not a very well-kept secret as it seemed everyone I talked to knew about Sand Point and Jakes. But I don’t remember it ever being really crowded either. It was 150 miles from Bozeman and there were not the crazy number of anglers without full-time jobs like there is now in Bozeman, Billings, Red Lodge, Cody and Jackson Hole. But even now it is not really crowded along the beach. Of course, there are 90% fewer cutthroats now as there was then and you are lucky to catch more than one per hour. Those damn lake trout.
I began to rent the small motor boats from Bridge Bay Marina and get out into the lake. Then a few years ago, my wife and I bought our own small fishing boat. Initially a 25-horse power boat and now a 60-horse power one. We now are on the lake for at least 15 days each season.
This year the Park opened the Lake to fishing on Memorial-Day weekend. We were there, but the fishing was slower than we anticipated. We averaged only one cutthroat for each two to three hours of fishing. Beautiful huge cutthroats but not constant, non-stop action. Until last weekend.
We were fishing near the Hotel when we stumbled on an area that held 7+ pound lake trout. It was late afternoon when we caught the first one and by sunset we had a half dozen in the boat. It was a rare, productive evening of fishing for huge trout on Yellowstone Lake. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we are still catching quality lake trout when over 2.4 million lake trout have been removed since 1994. Recreational anglers catch approximately 20,000 lake trout each year. There have been over 110,000 gillnetted by the three culling boats so far this year.
Here is the URL for the lake trout report on Yellowstone’s web pages:
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/lake-trout.htm
There are some signs that the cutthroats are improving, but apparently there are some lake trout left in the lake in healthy populations. I’m hopeful the Park’s culling program will work and am still very supportive of it. Regardless of the relative size and numbers of cuts and lakers, I am so fortunate to have started on the beaches of Sand Point on one of the world’s premier public lakes. I will fish there every spring as long as they let me. God bless Yellowstone.
Cut in front of Hotel
Big Cut
Sun set laker
New pointing lab: Sky
Laker
Laker
It was not a very well-kept secret as it seemed everyone I talked to knew about Sand Point and Jakes. But I don’t remember it ever being really crowded either. It was 150 miles from Bozeman and there were not the crazy number of anglers without full-time jobs like there is now in Bozeman, Billings, Red Lodge, Cody and Jackson Hole. But even now it is not really crowded along the beach. Of course, there are 90% fewer cutthroats now as there was then and you are lucky to catch more than one per hour. Those damn lake trout.
I began to rent the small motor boats from Bridge Bay Marina and get out into the lake. Then a few years ago, my wife and I bought our own small fishing boat. Initially a 25-horse power boat and now a 60-horse power one. We now are on the lake for at least 15 days each season.
This year the Park opened the Lake to fishing on Memorial-Day weekend. We were there, but the fishing was slower than we anticipated. We averaged only one cutthroat for each two to three hours of fishing. Beautiful huge cutthroats but not constant, non-stop action. Until last weekend.
We were fishing near the Hotel when we stumbled on an area that held 7+ pound lake trout. It was late afternoon when we caught the first one and by sunset we had a half dozen in the boat. It was a rare, productive evening of fishing for huge trout on Yellowstone Lake. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we are still catching quality lake trout when over 2.4 million lake trout have been removed since 1994. Recreational anglers catch approximately 20,000 lake trout each year. There have been over 110,000 gillnetted by the three culling boats so far this year.
Here is the URL for the lake trout report on Yellowstone’s web pages:
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/lake-trout.htm
There are some signs that the cutthroats are improving, but apparently there are some lake trout left in the lake in healthy populations. I’m hopeful the Park’s culling program will work and am still very supportive of it. Regardless of the relative size and numbers of cuts and lakers, I am so fortunate to have started on the beaches of Sand Point on one of the world’s premier public lakes. I will fish there every spring as long as they let me. God bless Yellowstone.
Cut in front of Hotel
Big Cut
Sun set laker
New pointing lab: Sky
Laker
Laker
