The Fall River and in fact the entire SW corner of the Park is looking much better here of late.  The area got some rain, and cooler weather (long awaited) has given us all hope that fall is coming - and it is. 

There is only one flow gauge on the Fall that is continuously monitored, it’s on the river outside the Park border, above the Yellowstone Canal near Squirrel, ID.  The river was flowing at 489 cfs this morning at 0545, with today’s average 664 cfs, and the 20% flow marker 522 cfs.  Flows are up a tad due to the recent rains.

Summer hatches have moved on from the region - though there are still some midges and a few caddis later in the afternoon and evening.  There are some Tricos beginning to show on the cooler mornings, with the spinner fall mid morning.  We ran into a crazy BWO hatch on the Firehole during the cool rain on Wednesday, so you know baetis aren’t far off here either - with Fall caddis, Grey Drakes, and Mahoganies on the docket also.

You have two best choices for prospecting until the fall hatches come around  - a terrestrial dropper rig (hoppers, beetles and ants are working, generally smaller sizes) as well as an attractor - dropper rig.  Standard nymph droppers will work, though many folks are using smaller bead heads.

This area can provide some of the finest fall dry fly fishing in the Park system, and is oft overlooked.  If you’ve been in and have some firsthand information, please fire us an email and we’ll credit you for the data. 

If you’re new to the site, check our How to Best Use This Site Page.

Flies to Have in the Box:

Dries:  Tricos -Trico Spinner, CDC Trico Spinner, Thorax Trico; baetis - BWO, Blue Dun, Olive Sparkle Dun, Para-adams; Caddis - EHC, X Caddis, Electric Caddis - tan, olive, black; Mahoganies - GTs, Sparkle Duns, Zlon cripples; PMX, red, yellow, black and lime; Grey Drake - life cycle; your attractor package

Nymphs:  BHFBPT; SF PT; Copper John;  Caddis - Mangy, Pulsating/Electric, Super Pupas; Prince / MegaPrince / BH Prince; Lightning bugs, gold, silver;

Terrestials: Hoppers - Grand, Whit, Dave’s, Carnage, Kicking, Hoppinator; Beetles- Fire, Foam, HiVis, Sam’s;  Ants - Chernobyl, ParaAnt, black and cinnamon, CDC Flying ant, black, brown, cinnamon; Epoxy, same colors

Streamers / Other:  Buggers - black, olive, brown, dark yellow; Bow River Bugger; Girdle Bug; Orange/brown rubberlegs

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