The Fall River and in fact the entire SW corner of the Park is looking better again this week, with the exception of the Cave Falls Fire in the Bechler area.  There’s not been a lot of data posted by the Park about this fire - check with the Park on the way in for the most updated information.

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 461 cfs this morning at 0545, with today’s average 656 cfs, and the 20% flow marker 479 cfs.  Flows have been fairly steady the past week.

Summer hatches have been gone for several weeks - 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. 

Cooler and overcast weather (it has to come sometime) will foster baetis, Fall caddis, Grey Drakes, and Mahoganies - yahoo!

You still 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.

On the cooler morning and cooler, overcast days we’d sure consider a streamer or streamer-nymph set up too.

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; Grey Drake - life cycle; your attractor package

Nymphs:  BHFBPT; SF PT; Copper John;  Caddis - 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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