Soda Butte Creek YNP

The Soda Butte Creek starts just outside the Northeast Entrance to the Yellowstone National Park near Cooke City, MT. It flows along the Northeast Entrance Highway for most of its entire twenty mile length making it easily accessible.  It starts as a typical freestone mountain stream with a good deal of pocket waters including riffles and runs as it flows through one of the most magnificent picturesque valleys in the park surrounded by towering beautiful mountains. Right next to the highway where the Soda Butte Creek  meets the Lamar River sits a large hot spring cone and that is where A. Bart Henderson, a Cooke City miner, got the strange name of Soda Butte in 1870.

 

The upper part of Soda Butte Creek flows through a deep canyon known locally as the Icebox Canyon. Fishing in this canyon is good through the summer as the canyon is so deep that it provides shade for the waters and therefore, the water remains cool. However, Because of spring runoff, the creek is generally not fishable until mid-July making the summer an excellent time to fish the Soda Butte. Smaller cutthroats and a few brook trout are eager to take dry flies in the upper part of Soda Butte Creek.

 

The lower section of the Soda Butte Creek downstream from the Pebble Creek Campground area curves and snakes its way through a meadow in the Lamar Valley before it meets up with the Lamar River.

This section contains larger fish than anyone might expect for a small stream. Indeed while the average length of the fish is probably 12 and 14 inches, some cutthroats reach 18 or even 20 inches or more in length, making it a favorite stream for those who enjoy small peaceful streams. Bison are plentiful and you may need to work your way around them as you fish the Soda Butte Creek.

 

Fishing the soda Butte Creek:

As you might guess, fishing the Soda Butte is very similar to fishing the Lamar River and the stream enjoys a good supply of aquatic insects including stoneflies, caddisflies, and mayflies. The rest of the trout’s diet consists of terrestrials.

 

Late Spring and Summer:

Like the Lamar River, terrestrials are the fly of choice beginning in July and lasting until the first of October. Foam hoppers as well as ant and cricket imitations, in hook sizes 4 to 8, are excellent choices for summer fishing as soon as the Soda Butte Creek clears. Make short casts in the eddies at the head of the pools and tap the rod vigorously causing the fly to twitch as it drifts. Also, dry flies such as the Pale Morning Dun and the Green Drake, in hook sizes of 14 to 20 should work well due to the prolific hatches enjoyed by the Soda Butte Creek.