Caddis Gone Wild

IT COULDN'T HAPPEN TO A NICER RIVER
The Bugs Are Too Thick
Bring Your Ear Plugs
bring your nose plugs too

.. The caddis fly hatches on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park are thick, prolific, varied, and nearly perpetual. These hatches are combined with PMD's, Golden Stone Flies, Baetis, (on the perfectly dreary overcast afternoons,) and mosquitoes - but not many yet. Fishing to surface fish can be an all day affair if you're lucky enough to be in the right place at the right times. If not, don't worry, just about any subsurface fly will work when there are no dimples to be seen.
.. The down side is that the water is running out at a rapid clip, and unless we get some persistent rain showers, catching will turn to fishing on the west side of the park in a matter of a few short weeks.
.. The Madison River near West Yellowstone is now flowing below 400 cfs when it should be at 800 cfs. At Cameron, Montana it's just above 500 cfs when it should be around 1,700 cfs.
.. THAT'S way too low. It's so low that the bar at Palisades is causing a traffic jam as guides push and pull their boats full of sports through the shallow water. It's so low that guides are limiting their total passenger weight to less than 250 pounds for two scantily clad fishers - they prefer blonds. It's so low that the trout are swimming on their backs with snorkels. It's so low that the Montana Department of Transportation is thinking of paving it. It's so low that . . . well, you get it.
.. The Firehole River is in just as bad a condition. Currently it's flowing at 250 cfs when it should be around 500 cfs. And the Gibbon River at Madison Junction is below 100 cfs when it should be at least twice that. Both rivers are approaching all time lows.
.. Right now this is not all bad for the fisher folks. Fish are eating hungrily, bugs are erupting like popcorn, and the fishers are growing egos the size of mature tarpon with their new found fly fishing prowess.
.. It's hard to tell if the fishing stories or the river stories are the most greatly exaggerated - but both are growing in size and legend as we speak.
.. It's Friday morning and time for the biscuits and gravy - then we're going to the park before it dries up and blows away. Report tonight or tomorrow - get here quick.

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NPS PICTURES OF SOME AQUATIC INSECTS, (see page 3 & 4 for caddis.)
Blue Ribbon Flies River Report
Bud Lilly's River Report
Madison River Outfitters River Report