Thursday, June 25, 2009

Firehole's River Reports

NEARLY UNANIMOUS
Fish Now !
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.. It looks like everyone wants to fish the Firehole River right now. Join the crowds and enjoy the weather.
From Chi Wulff:
For the most part the rainy (and sometimes snowy) weather thus far in June has kept the hatches rolling on the Firehole. Like the bugs and feeding fish, fisherfolk have been (and still are) plentiful.

Flows have settled quite a bit over the past 2 days (412 cfs in the canyon this morning with today’s average flow 348 cfs); the water is warming enough that some of the regulars have been wading wet during these recent warming afternoons. (This is one of my favorite rivers to wade wet; you can through October in most years).

Mid-day fishing is beginning to slow just a bit as we ease into more of a true summer pattern this week; it was warm yesterday and will be even warmer today. There are still mayflies coming off, though the late afternoon – early evening Caddis will become more and more important as we nearer and nearer to June.

From Madison River Outfitters:

Our wet June has kept the Firehole River cool and happily spitting out insects for the trout to feast on. Mid-day fishing has slowed a bit, but there are still good opportunities for surface fishing in the mornings and evenings. Caddis emergence has become very important to the trout so give this a try when rising trout ignore conventional dead drifts: place CDC Caddis or Swing Caddis just under the surface, it can be deadly. Spent Caddis are excellent flies when Caddisflies are laying eggs.
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.. On the other hand, The most eager trout in the park haven't seen a rod in a week. The NPS campsite in the middle of the meadow shown below has had no takers for 10 days. It's less than an hour's easy walk from the trailhead. Maybe it should be fished.
.. And, of course there's Notellum River. It's cold. It's clear. It's thin. It has more fish than can be told. It's experiencing no fishing pressure. And it's less than 20 minutes from the road.