Yellowstone Park, September 5th, 2023

Colonade Falls

September is perhaps the best month to visit the park for fly fishing and tranquility as well as enjoying scenery. Fall River Basin is one of the best location for doing so. Bechler River Soldier Station is where to begin a visit. A walk of a bit more that three miles from the station gets one into Bechler Meadows the home of a river that holds a trout population undisturbed by human development. Hosted here are cut-bow hybrids with a few Yellowstone cutthroats. No rough fish or other salmonids are present! With a huge population of terrestrial insects, it is obvious what to use for top water fishing. Streamer patterns of choice are also effective when presented into holding water. The trout population inhabits the river upstream into the timbered reach with Colonade Falls being its limit. It is a seven mile walk to this unusual waterfall, but it is worth the effort from the fishing and sight seeing standpoints.

The river along the way offers an unheard of number of points to stop and offer a hopper or ant pattern. For sure, getting to Colonade Falls and back makes for a long day, but the experience of doing so will not easily leave your memory.