Yellowstone Park, October 23rd, 2021

Only eight days remain in the park 2021 fishing season, and most of it will be wrapped around encountering migrating brown trout (and rainbow trout in the Madison River). Especially visited will be the Gardner, Gibbon, Madison, and Lewis (and to a lesser extent the Snake and lower Firehole) Rivers. Ethics comes into play here perhaps more than in any other season. Crowds, much denser than in the past, will be present on all waters, so courtesy comes into play, especially when encountering less experienced or thoughtless anglers.

Caution and ethics play a big role where spawning redds are observed. These are concentrated in water usually less than three feet deep and of almost a walking speed current. They appear as light colored round or oval area with a central depression compared to a darker general substrate. It does not matter if redds or occupied or not; all should not be disturbed physically or fished over if occupied.by spawning or fighting fish. What is going here is formation of the next generation of brown trout, any fly fisher of forward hinking wants the next generation