Fishing Reports

Yellowstone Park, October 20th, 2024

A few nice afternoons remain for swinging soft hackle flies and presenting BWO life cycle and white miller caddis patterns on the Firehole River. Other than that, brown trout season is running supreme. Expect crowds pitching streamer and big soft hackle patterns on the Madison River, whether it be along the west entrance highway or in the Beaver Meadows between the Barns Holes and Baker’s Hole campground.  The Lewis River channel between Lewis and Shoshone Lakes will become a destination for fly fishers from all over the world. Best times of day to enjoy these fish is first light before shoreline angling traffic puts them down.  The brown trout runs into the Snake and Gardner Rivers are starting with peaks coming late in the month. Watch the weather, as “Old Man Winter” can take month long residence any time.

Flies to try:

• RS2-Olive
• Peanut Envy-Tan

Yellowstone National Park, October 12th, 2024

Other than continuing Firehole River BWO and White Miller activity, it essentially “Brown Trout Season” in the park. The Lewis River System offers perhaps the biggest number of migrating browns (mostly of trophy size) in the area.  The densest concentration is in the channel between Lewis and Shoshone Lakes where fish from both lakes concentrate. Getting there early in the day to present streamer and large nymph patterns before other wading and bankside anglers disturb the fish is the best strategy. Another location where good numbers of browns concentrate is in the river just below Lewis Lake. Rather than disturbing fish in the act of spawning there, fish the outlet bay in order to intercept migrating browns. 

The Madison River drainage features a great run of browns and accompanying rainbows from Hebgen Lake, but the number of fly fishers can equal the number of fish to the point that social problems can arise. Other brown trout runs worth a visit are in the Gardner and Snake Rivers, but these peak a bit  later in the season than the Lewis and Madison runs.

Flies to try:

• Elden’s CDC BWO Emerger
• Mena’s Cousin It Streamer- Ginger
• Craven’s Dirty Hippy-Brown