Yellowstone Park

Yellowstone Park, September 20, 2022

Browns and rainbows are losing interest in being Hebgen Lake gulpers to staging around tributaries for the fall spawning run. Soon it will be a contest on the Madison as to whether there are more fish than fly fishers present as the fall spawning run has begun. The more numerous spawning run of Lewis River brown trout into the channel between Shoshone and Lewis Lake and below Lewis Lake is also beginning. So presenting streamer patterns of various types is becoming the name of the game on these Park waters.

With cooling weather, look for fishing on the Firehole River to improve much to the delight of top water fly fishers using BWO, white miller and soft hackled patterns.

Plenty of terrestrial insects remain in the meadow reaches of Fall River Basin streams, and this will be the case until a killing frost occurs. Waters here are at base level and ultra clear, so a studied approach with essentially no wading is required for success.

Yellowstone National Park, September 6th, 2022

Upper Meadow Slough Creek

The Northeast Entrance Road remains close to vehicular traffic from the Slough Creek campground turn-off to the northeast entrance. This means fishing Soda Butte Creek and Lamar River in its meadow reach and Trout Lake can be approached only through hiking and bicycling. Slough Creek’s upper meadows offer excellent fly fishing because of terrestrial insect activity, but great alternatives are the Fall River Basin streams which have very similar meadow reaches offering the same terrestrial insect activity and AM trico activity.

Yellowstone National Park, September 3rd, 2022

Slough Creek, Second Meadow Above the Campground

Here is a suggestion that applies to fishing all Park streams: presenting terrestrial insect patters is a must. Only exception is the Firehole River whose waters have yet to cool to the point where fish caught an released have a great chance of surviving this ordeal.

Yellowstone National Park, August 16th, 2022

AM tricos are beginning to appear on Fall River Basin streams. So a good strategy is to break out those size 18-22 emerger patterns for use until late morning. At that time trico activity winds down rather quickly, so switch to presenting terrestrial insect patterns of choice. Include traditional humpies in these; they make excellent horse fly and deer fly imitations.

Berry season remains in Fall River Basin forested areas, and the scent of huckleberries and low bush blue berries is in many locations. It is a strong signal to be “bear aware!”

Yellowstone National Park, August 13th, 2022

Looking for some very good still water fishing in the park or anywhere else in the region? Beula Lake offers the best, and Riddle Lake is also a good choice. Both lakes host nothing but Yellowstone cutthroat trout and a few species of small forage fish. Beula requires a walk of 2.5 miles from the Ashton-Flagg Ranch Road, while Riddle is reached just south of Thumb Junction by a walk of a bit more than a mile. Both have sections good for being fished from shore, and flotation devices allow fishing the entire lake in both cases.

Yellowstone National Park, August 9th, 2022

Because flow out of Grassy Lake Reservoir has ended, a natural flow results throughout Fall River in the Park. This condition allows for more consistent dry fly fishing for trout.

Beula Lake is still offering some of the best still water fishing in the park with speckled dun, damselfly and now cinnamon caddis activities of interest to trout. Small leech patterns in black, olive, and purple also bring interest from trout.

Yellowstone National Park, July 30th, 2022

The Park has opened the road from Tower Junction to Slough Creek to auto traffic. The road from the Northeast Entrance ( Silver Gate) to Slough Creek remains closed to auto traffic.

Beula Lake

Right now Beula Lake offers some of the fastest still water fishing in the park with speckled dun and damsel fly activities bringing on big time cutthroat trout responses.

Yellowstone National Park, July 23rd, 2022

On July 21st Yellowstone Park opened the road from Tower Junction to the Northeast Entrance for foot and bicycle traffic only. This means the Lamar River, Pebble, Slough and Soda Butte Creeks and Trout Lake will have little if any fishing pressure.

Meadow stream fishing enthusiasts may now switch interest to Fall River Basin streams ( Bechler and Fall Rivers, Boundary and Mountain Ash Creeks ) which are now more quickly approached than the best locations that those in the Lamar River drainage offer.

Yellowstone National Park, July 12th, 2022

All Fall River Basin streams are near base flows. Bechler Meadows drying out, and river offers some good fishing with PMDs and damsel fly life cycle patterns. A few green drakes are present in this low water year. Best fishing here is during the evening brown drake emergence. A good strategy to enjoy it is to reserve one of the campgrounds along the river or nearby and fish until twilight. Same applies to Boundary, and Mountain Ash Creeks and Fall River. Beula Lake is offering some of the fastest still water fishing in the Park thanks to its abundant leech population and speckled dun and damsel fly activity.

Beula and Hering Lakes

Fall River

Brown drake numbers in Gibbon River in meadows and Duck Creek have diminished in the last few years. Is climate change the reason? Leave the Firehole River alone until September days begin cooling back to water temperatures where resident trout have a better chance of surviving being caught and released. The Yellowstone River is now open, but thanks to road traffic getting there in time to enjoy best fishing requires a departure as soon as entry gates open in the AM. We have no information on fishing the streams (Lamar River, Slough and Soda Butte Creeks) in the northeast corner of the park mainly because of road conditions.

Yellowstone National Park, July 5th, 2022

With the Firehole River beginning to warm to levels detrimental to fish, the Madison and Gibbon rivers becoming relatively crowded and the Yellowstone River time-taking to get to, Fall River Basin streams offer a great alternative. True, you may have to walk a ways and fight off mosquitos on the way in, but the rewards are the chance for a fish of the year ( Sallys, PMDs, Green Drake, damsel flies emerging) and a tranquility unmatched on those aforementioned Madison River drainage waters. Then there is Beula Lake for which we will offer more information soon.