The Firehole River in the Park is stuck if you will in the late summer doldrums.  The River remains one of the many Yellowstone waters under special regulations right now - basically the entire river is closed from 2 PM to 5 AM.

That’s appropriate, and in fact in our opinion given flows and water temps, you probably shouldn’t be fishing the Firehole at all at this point, and we wish the NPS would post such.  After the large fish kill earlier this summer, you would think the message would be crystal clear.  Cooler evenings have no doubt helped, but there is a warming trend forecast for next week. 

Just for interest sake, the Firehole’s flow rate today near Madison junction was 221 cfs at 0800, with today’s mean 268 cfs, and the 20% marker 222 cfs.  The record low flow occured in 1988 and was 212 cfs - we’re not too far off today.

As you know when the Firehole really heats up, many fish head into the Firehole tributaries simply to survive.  In better years these tribs are fishable around this time;  we’re asking (as are many others) that you leave the Firehole tribs alone and give these fish a break.  They’ll be there in the Fall and next Spring.

Fall isn’t that far off;  let’s give her another few weeks of protection and see what the fall weather brings. 

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Flies to have in the box:

In keeping with the above, we are not recommending flies at this point.

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