To the pure world inside the confines of Yellowstone Nationwide Park, the nebulous date on the tail finish of summer season when the overwhelming majority of the human inhabitants “migrates” elsewhere should appear a whole thriller. Someday, there’s a two-hour-long site visitors jam between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction, and the following, the vehicles are simply all gone.
What an inexplicable exodus this should be inside the easy mind of an enormous bison that’s spent a summer season making an attempt like hell to navigate its house territory, all of the whereas beneath the fixed surveillance of telephoto lenses and the most recent and best in digicam cellphone tech. However yearly, come the Tuesday after Labor Day, a good portion of the individuals circulating Yellowstone’s Grand Loop Street merely go away.
Within the fall, Yellowstone, for the individuals who keep — the parents whose children are grown and don’t must rush again to Indiana for college, or for the retirees or digital nomads who’re not on schedules dictated to them by lowly pursuits like jobs or appointments or tasks — is a magical place. For fly fishers, specifically, it’s the most effective time of the yr.
Of late, I’ve taken to giving summer season in Yellowstone to the vacationers. The throngs of individuals contained in the park in July and August are antithetical to any purpose I’d wish to be within the park to start with. However come fall, Yellowstone is, as soon as once more, a navigable angling paradise for any angler prepared to stretch the legs and wander.
And, with respect to the “resident” anglers like me who wait all yr for September and October to return round, listed below are some concepts for anglers trying to expertise the most effective of the park within the wake of the large human exodus.
The Gibbon River
For anglers getting into the park by the west entrance at West Yellowstone, they’ll doubtless acknowledge the Gibbon River as one in all two sources of the fabled Madison. The Gibbon and the Firehole come collectively to spawn the Madison at Madison Junction.
However, truthfully, the Gibbon is likely one of the park’s fisheries that may be powerful to dial in. Closely influenced by thermal flows from Norris Geyser Basin, it usually flows a bit too heat for reliable trout fishing in the summertime. However early within the season — the primary couple weeks of June — after which once more within the fall, the Gibbon may be among the finest dry-fly fisheries within the park.
From Madison Junction to Gibbon Falls, the river can, at instances, really feel fully devoid of fish. However, because the climate cools — and water cools with it — resident trout will transfer up from the Madison. Then, in October, one thing miraculous occurs. Large migratory brown trout from Hebgen Lake swim up the Madison and into the decrease Gibbon to spawn.
From concerning the second week of October till the season closes on the primary Sunday in November, the decrease Gibbon is for trophy hunters. And, should you’re fishing within the park, you’ll see the tell-tale fly rigs of anglers lining the Madison as you drive into the park from West Yellowstone. Most will sport massive indicators and bounce nymphs deep alongside the underside in hopes of intercepting a fats Hebgen brown. Others will go proper to egg patterns, as a result of Hebgen’s opportunistic rainbows observe the browns into the park to eat roe.
However most anglers can’t resist the scintillating runs and bends of the Madison, and few ever drive so far as the Gibbon. Do your self a favor. Put blinders on and drive previous the guides and their purchasers on the Madison and head to the Gibbon. You possibly can entry the river simply above the bridge south of Madison Junction or on the Gibbon Falls Picnic Floor north of the junction. With a bit strolling, the latter will put you on the base of beautiful Gibbon Falls. Right here the browns have run a bit farther, however their numbers are good, and a persistent angler stands a terrific probability of touchdown a very nice fish or two.
Farther upstream of Gibbon Falls, the river meanders by each Elk Meadows and Gibbon Meadows. The fish right here aren’t migratory, however the river could be very productive, given its thermal inflows. Within the fall, the waters chill a bit, and it’s a terrific place to stroll and stalk for feeding trout amongst herds of bison and elk.
Nonetheless additional upstream, above Virginia Cascade, the river turns into a stunning little meadow stream. Right here, the Gibbon is a key a part of the Nationwide Park Service’s native fish restoration plan. The NPS has devoted years to eradicating non-native brook trout and rainbow trout from the higher Gibbon. Now, this stretch of the river is house solely to restored populations of native west slope cutthroat trout and native Montana grayling. It’s among the finest locations within the park to catch one in all these two uncommon resident fish.
And, within the fall, you’ll do it amongst vibrant gold willows and certain beneath completely blue Yellowstone skies. That is what fishing Yellowstone is all about.
The Gardner River in Yellowstone Nationwide Park (photograph: Chad Shmukler).
The Gardner River
This beautiful freestone stream begins atop the plateau as a shocking meadow creek within the shadows of Electrical Peak, and it flows usually northeast for a number of miles, tumbling over impassable waterfalls and squeezing by tight canyons till it leaves the park simply north of Mammoth Sizzling Springs. It’s right here, too, the place it meets the fabled Yellowstone River simply east of the city of Gardiner.
For anglers, the Gardner River is probably going finest in its decrease reaches close to Mammoth and above the confluence with the Yellowstone. Right here, late-summer hoppers cling on into October some years, which makes for pocket-water fishing that may be among the many finest within the West. Browns, rainbows and even cutthroats shifting into the river from Yellowstone provide wonderful dry-fly fishing in September.
Sadly, in June 2022, report flooding completely devastated the Gardner and far of its lower-river entry. It’s nonetheless attainable to succeed in the river to fish it, nevertheless it does require some effort. Publish-flood, the Nationwide Park Service rerouted site visitors away from the river through the Previous Gardiner Street. That highway, as soon as gravel, is now paved. Meaning accessing the river would require some strolling alongside the previous broken highway that was largely washed out within the flood. It’s nonetheless fishable — nevertheless it’s not almost as accessible because it was previous to the flood.
There may be some excellent news, nonetheless. The NPS 2024 fishing laws enable fishing from beneath Osprey Falls within the park all the way in which downstream to the confluence with the Yellowstone all yr lengthy. On most waters within the park, fishing season ends the primary Sunday in November. So, should you can navigate the remnants of the flood and get to the river, your angling alternatives may very well be wonderful and nearly limitless all year long.
Farther up, because the Gardner plunges by Sheepeater Canyon, the river is a bit much less predictable and the gradient is critical. Nonetheless, for anglers who’re half mountain goat, this stretch of river is basically ignored all summer season lengthy. If journey is in your agenda, it is a hike value taking.
Lastly, close to the river’s headwaters, nicely above Osprey Falls, the Gardner turns into a legit meadow creek. Right here, it’s loaded with launched brook trout — some are completely respectful, too — and it’s finest accessed on the Indian Creek Campground. For dry fly anglers searching for solitude (and for whom the scale of the quarry is of distance significance when in comparison with surroundings and the prospect to see a few of the park’s iconic wildlife), the higher Gardner is solely great.
Fall fishing on the Firehole River (photograph: Chad Shmukler).
The Firehole River
It ought to come as no shock that the Firehole is maybe the most effective fall fishery in Yellowstone, each by way of numbers, and, surprisingly to some, for the prospect to get into sizable brown trout.
The enduring Bob Jacklin, when requested concerning the Firehole, will go on and on about its hatches and the sheer numbers of trout that decision the river house when the waters cool off within the fall. And he’s proper – the bug life should be seen to be believed. In the summertime, most Firehole trout retreat into the river’s tributaries to flee the nice and cozy water that comes because of thermal inflows and heat summer season air temperatures. These fish return to the river after it chills within the fall, when there could also be extra trout within the Firehole than in some other river within the park.
Most fly fishers method the Firehole from any entry above Firehole Falls all the way in which upstream to Biscuit Basin with a easy philosophy: “If I play my playing cards proper and I’m on my sport, I can catch a whole lot of fish in the present day.”
And that’s significantly true within the fall. Now, don’t misunderstand, right here. There may be a lot pure meals within the water that it’s usually very simple to really feel as if the river’s trout are ignoring you. A couple of years again, a buddy of mine from California dropped in, and he and I spent a day on the Firehole in October. We noticed fish. All over the place. And we hooked a whole lot of fish. However we each felt as if we left a whole lot of trout within the river. And I believe a part of that’s as a result of the Firehole can demand rather a lot from anglers — strong drifts with dry flies and the proper hookset with soft-hackles are conditions. And it pays to go to one of many fly outlets in West Yellowstone earlier than you hit the river — on the Firehole, the best flies matter.
And, but, there are these days on the river when the whole lot appears to go excellent. Sure, for a lot of its course by the park, the Firehole is a roadside fishery. But it surely’s additionally very simple to get off the crushed path and discover solitude — a bit strolling will take you a great distance on the Firehole. And, away from the crowds is the place you’ll discover the river’s massive fish — browns get massive within the secluded sections of the river, and 18-inch specimens have gotten extra frequent.
It’s right here the place you would possibly ditch the scale 18 smooth hackle or the scale 20 Blue-winged Olive and as a substitute tie on a measurement 8 Woolly Bugger or a heavy Zonker for a swing by deep water. No, you received’t catch any lake-run browns up right here on the plateau, however you would possibly stick a 20-incher, and that’s saying one thing on this river.
However principally, the Firehole is quintessentially Yellowstone. Right here you’ll fish subsequent to gurgling sizzling springs, steaming geyser vents and effervescent mud pots, and also you’ll doubtless must cross the river a time or two to keep away from herds of bison that frequent the meadows of the river above its confluence with Nez Perce Creek.
The Firehole is an expertise. The fishing simply makes it extra particular.
Last phrase
There are, after all, actually a whole lot of fantastic fishing locations inside the 2.2 million acres of Yellowstone Nationwide Park. And, for wandering anglers, the park may be extremely productive. That is the time of yr when deep-water lake trout transfer into the shallows to spawn, and when massive browns migrate into a few of the park’s extra accessible waters. The park’s non-native brook trout are in full spawning regalia and nearly any accessible fishery is value a cease should you’re prospecting for trout.
And the backcountry fishing may be simply as productive, however shorter days and freezing chilly nights make day journeys a bit more durable to perform. For hearty souls who can put a camp on their backs, this received’t matter — they usually’ll take pleasure in the most effective fishing of all of them.
However the message right here is easy. When a lot of the people go away the park is when a lot of the anglers ought to point out up. Fishing may be great. But it surely’s nonetheless Yellowstone, and it’s nonetheless one of the crucial magical landscapes on the planet. The fishing? That’s only a bonus.
