Yellowstone Park 9-29-18

This is the best time to be fishing in the park.  Biting insects are about gone, bull elk are providing natural sound effects, most recreational fly-fishers are also gone, so only the hard core is left. It seems that almost every piece of water will offer something to those hard core fly-fishers that stay within. With respect to still waters, Beula Lake will remain the best still water (with respect to action, not size) in the park.  The Lewis Lake shoreline, especially below the campground and near the channel inlet will be a streamer junkie’s delight with migrating browns.  If you do not mind the three-mile walk carrying a flotation device down DeLacey Creek trail, there will be plenty of juvenile lake trout lurking around submerged weed beds in Shoshone Lake to take black marabou leeches or scud patterns presented on a full sink line.  Late in October the big cuttbows in Trout Lake will take scud patterns in efforts to stock up for the coming winter.   There are more streams that are offering good fishing than you can try in the remainder of the season.  Anywhere along the Madison River, through pitching big streamer patterns, you will encounter those big, beautiful run-up browns and ‘bows from Hebgen Lake.   Late in October the brief run of browns  into the Snake River and some of its tributaries and the run of Yellowstone River browns into the lower Gardner River will give streamer lovers some variety.  The Firehole River fall baetis and white miller activity will be the place for the small dry fly pattern purist. All meadow streams ( Fall River Basin streams,  the river in Gibbon Meadows, Slough and Soda Butte Creeks, Lamar River) will offer early morning trico activity followed by mid-day terrestrial insects shaking off the morning chill. It is truly a late season fly-fishing heaven.