The Yellowstone River in the Park remains a fairly challenging target this late summer. 

There is some good news - the rains of last week that stained / muddied the lower Yellowstone in the Park have passed, and water clarity as of today is pretty good.  Flows remain very low overall - at the Yellowstone Lake Outlet today flows are 804 cfs (average 1650 cfs, the 20% marker is 1180 cfs).

The best strategy below Fishing Bridge right now probably is to target the remaining hatches, waning as they are - you’ll see PMDs, several types of Caddis, and both Green and Gray Drakes.  There aren’t many fish in this section, and you’ll need to do some hunting to find feeding / podded fish.

Yellowstone Canyons - throw a big attractor rig or hopper with a dropper.  We’ve had success with a Turck’s Tarantala as well as Stims here.   There are a few caddis coming off in the late afternoon and evening; you should be seeing some BWO on the cooler days (probably not this week).

Down near Gardner (and below) we would suggest terrestials or maybe a small attractor with a dropper rig, and streamers in the morning will be productive if you’re willing to be diligent and make some adjustments.  BWOs will again start showing on the cooler days.

We have a full report available (updated yesterday) for the Yellowstone River outside the park on Best Fly Fishing Montana (this link will take you right to the report blog).

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:  PMDs - parachute, sparkle dun, sprout, cripple, CDC emerger, PMX - yellow, peacock, royal; Parachute Adams; Lime Tude; Stimulator, olive, yellow; X-caddis; Goddard caddis;  Turck’s Tarantula; Drakes, life cycle; BWOs - probably early but think positive.

Nymphs:  Lightning bug, green and gold; Hares Ear, include BH;  Copper John, various colors; FB PT; SH PT; Prince - BH, your favorites

Terrestials: Hoppers - Grand, Whit, Dave’s, Carnage, Kicking  ; Beetles- Fire, Foam, HiVis, Sam’s;  Ants - Chernobyl, ParaAnt, black and cinnamon, CDC Flying ant, black, brown, cinnamon; Epoxy, same colors
 
Streamers / Others:  Wooly Buggers, brown / black, rubberlegs; Bow River Buggers; Girdle bug; Zonkers; Yuk Bug

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