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.