The Yellowstone River in the Park looks better this week after rains affected her the later part of last week.

In terms of clarity - the rains of last week that stained / muddied the lower Yellowstone in the Park are long gone, and water clarity has been improving consistently.

Flows remain very low overall - at the Yellowstone Lake Outlet today (0515) flows are 675 cfs (average 1270 cfs, the 20% marker is 953 cfs).

Below Fishing Bridge right now is probably one of the least productive areas in the Park to fish in our minds - there just aren’t many (hardly any) fish in this section of the river. 

Yellowstone Canyons - there’s probably two reasonable approaches here.  On a warm fall afternoon that feels more like summer than fall, still think about hopper / dropper and attractor / dropper set ups.  Just because it’s one of the things we really enjoy this time of year, we’d also throw streamers (or streamer / nymph - double nymph set ups) here.  You should be looking for BWOs on the cooler and overcast / precipitation days - though there probably won’t be strong BWOs this week given the forecast.

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:  baetis - BWO, Blue Dun, Olive Sparkle Dun, Para-adams; Caddis - EHC, X Caddis, Electric Caddis - tan, olive, black;  PMX, red, yellow, black and lime; your attractor package - make sure you have Stims, Tarantulas (some big stuff)

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:  Woolly Buggers, brown, olive, black, Rubberlegs, brown, olive, black; Sparkle Buggers, brown, olive, black; Bow River Buggers; Girdle bug; Zonkers; Yuk Bug

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