Jake and I had a chance to run up and fish one of our favorite runs on the Gallatin on Saturday afternoon.  It was mostly cloudy (finally) and in the 50s – perfect weather – with rain showers moving across the canyon at a pretty rapid clip. 

We pulled into one of our favorite runs just above Portal Creek (we call it the powerline run – that’s the obtuse hint on this one) right around noon hoping to catch the start of the BWO.  It was one of those days where timing was perfect – as we rigged we saw the first of what was to be an afternoon of active fish. 

After debating the options, and noting somewhat sparse activity, we both ended up rigging small stims (olive and orange) followed by #18 pheasant tail soft hackles.  Before I could wade down and get in, Jake was already in the water with a nice fish on.  We both brought two fish to hand fairly quickly – all on the stims. 

Within an hour fish were working the entire run – clearly a small BWO (18s ish); we both switched over to small duns and it was fast and furious for a couple of hours. 

The Gallatin is surprisingly cold for this time of year, and after things slowed a bit we were surprised to see that three hours had flown by.  A cool, windy rain made the choice to head for coffee a bit easier. 

I’d agree with the Blue Ribbon guys that the BWO are offering great fishing from Big Sky down to the Portal Creek area; a friend did well on the Gallatin near the Four Corners Access that same afternoon for about two hours. 

Get out before the snow flies this weekend….

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Tags: Best Fly Fishing Yellowstone: Random Team Ramblings