On the Yellowstone River, just north of Fishing Bridge, is some of the best catch and release fishing in the country. The prize is the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout ranging in size from 6 to 26 inches with its red, pink, or orange marking beneath the jaw giving the species its name.
Ask any avid fly fisherman who lives near Yellowstone what his plans are for July 15th, and most likely he’ll say, “I’ll be on the Yellowstone River fly-fishing for cutthroat trout on opening day.”
And that’s where I was. Every July 15th, I was on the shoreline walking both sides of the Yellowstone River greeting fly fisherman as they cast their lines out.
It was unusual for me to issue a violation notice to fly fisherman for not obeying the catch and release regulations. Most anglers I met on the river had been coming into Yellowstone for decades and knew the regulations better than I did.
I remember looking through my binoculars one afternoon and seeing a man in his early thirties fishing on the shoreline with a rod and reel. To his right, I could see a young boy who was probably around 4 years old. The fisherman continued to cast as I walked up to him.
“Good afternoon. How’s it going?”
“I’m having a good day on the river. This is the first time my son and I have fished together.”
“That’s great. I’ll need to see your fishing permit please. If you would, bring your line in and I’ll take a look at your permit.”
“No problem, Ranger.”
The fisherman brought his line in and handed his fishing rod to his son. He pulled his permit out of his fishing jacket and showed it to me.
“Looks good. I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your day fishing on the Yellowstone River.”
As I started to walk away, I overheard the little boy ask, “Daddy, you have to show the Ranger all the fish you caught today?”
Whoops. Kids, you gotta love em. I turned around and looked at the fisherman and smiled.
“Why don’t you go ahead and show me where you’ve stashed the fish.”
I followed the fisherman and his son about 30 feet upstream. The young boy skipped the whole way excited about his dad showing the Ranger all the fish he had caught.
Sure enough, there they were. Out of sight. 5 large cutthroat trout on a nylon stringer in a hidden pool of water. They were still thrashing around and trying to get free.
Rather than embarrassing the fisherman in front of his son, I took him aside and strongly suggested he read and follow fishing regulations and that 5 fish in a catch and release zone usually meant a mandatory appearance before the U. S. Magistrate.
“I’ll tell you what. If you can get all those cutthroat trout back in the river without them going belly up, I’ll just give you a verbal warning today.”
“Yes sir. I can do that.”
At my request, the fisherman explained to his son that this was a catch and release area for cutthroat trout and it was the Ranger’s job to make sure that no harm came to any of them.
For the next 20 minutes, father and son removed cutthroat trout from the nylon stringer and gently released them one at a time back into the Yellowstone River.
A Ranger's Journal 