The Gardner is still fishing well, particularly in its upper reaches and will get even better as fall approaches.

Since our last Gardner update all river restrictions have been lifted in the Park (22 August) - yahoo!

Flows this morning on the lower river near Mammoth  at 0330 are 97 cfs, with today’s average 144 cfs.  Flows have been slowly dropping all week without any additional significant rain in the drainage.  Water temps are much more reasonable these days with the cooler evenings - the afternoons have been warm lately though. 

The water above Osprey Falls is still producing small brook and rainbow trout. Summer hatches have about run their course. 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 still 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 is one of our favorite fall Yellowstone waters - the browns roll  through this system and pressure is often minimal.  Won’t be long….

If you’re new to our site, please check out our How to Best Use This Site page.

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); Attractors - your favorites; Baetis - think positive!

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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