The Gardner is fishing pretty darn well in its upper reaches - it has been for most of the summer, and will get even better as fall approaches. 

The river remains closed from 2 pm to 5 am below Osprey Falls, and we agree that this stretch needed protection this summer.  With moderating temps (particularly with a nice cooling trend forecast for the week) we hear restrictions will be off around Labor Day most likely.

Flows this morning on the lower river near Mammoth are still elevated a bit from the rains the past few days - today’s reading at 0730 is 105 cfs, coming down from a peak early Saturday over 120 cfs.  As the flows most of last week were in the 94-96 cfs range, she’s still up a bit and off, though we suspect the upper river will be much less impacted than the lower.

The water above Osprey Falls is still producing small brook and rainbow trout;  it can make for a really fun outing.  There’s not a lot going on in terms of consistent hatches at this point.  You most likely will see some sporadic afternoon and evening caddis, and perhaps a rare PMD in the mornings.  We’ll be seeing Baetis before too long.

Your best approach will most likely be to throw your favorite attractor dries with attractor nymphs;  you could also use hopper - terrestrial /dropper rigs once the water warms up in the late mornings, particularly if its breezy.

The Gardner has some great action in the fall with the brown trout run; they begin to show up in mid to late September.  If you’re debating about making a trip to the Gardner, we recommend that you wait until then.

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Flies to have in the box:

Dries:  EHC, tan and olive; CDC caddis, tan and olive; X Caddis, olive; PMX peacock, royal, and lime/green;  Royal Wulff; Parachute Adams; Stims, olive/yellow (smaller)

Nymphs: Mega Prince, Copper John, red, blue; Rubberlegs, olive and brown; Hares Ear; San Juan worm, red, brown; BHFBPT; Bubbleback PMD; Lightning bug, gold, silver, green /olive

Terrestrials: Hoppers - Grand, tan, yellow; Dave’s; Para Hopper; Beetles - Fire, Foam, HiVis, Krystal Leg; Ants - Wilcox Glo Ant, CDC winged, epoxy, brown /cinnamon /black

Streamers / Other: Wooly buggers, olive, brown, black; Girdle bug; smaller sizes

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