NEED A LITTLE SUN
Hatches Sparse & Late
gray day fishing
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.. The Gibbon, Firehole & Madison are slowly coming into shape, (finally.) The fish are eating - the bugs are swimming. You'll need your full arsenal to fish all day.
.. All three rivers are running at 10% to 30% above seasonal averages but visibility is pretty good considering the high water.
.. Subsurface flies are still the ticket for consistent catching
while the floaters will work if you are lucky enough to bump into one of the widely scattered hatches... All the bugs that are associated with this time of year are present and are just now beginning to fly - they're just doing it in a sporadic manner.
.. PMD & Baetis hatches continue to sprout on both the Firehole River and the Madison River. A day or two of warming will increase this activity to near river-wide persistence.
It's a bit unlike the neighbors, but they are wishing for just a smidgen of sun. We're just never happy!.. The dry fly folks are busy cruising the shoreline looking for noses and the subsurface mavens are doing a bit more catching but are also covering a lot of territory. Standing in the water and waiting for a fish to find you will not get it done right now.
.. Presenting a sack of groceries is seeing some success in the Firehole River Canyon, (both above and below the falls.) The big bugs have not been as cooperative as most would like but the fish have seen them and will
take your offering... Double fly rigs are more popular this year than in recent years. Big Silli Legs followed by Yellowstone Sally is one of the favorites for the stonefly flingers. A drowned Deer Hair Caddis followed by a green Stiff Hackle is providing success for the nymph-o-maniacs.
.. Late in the day, between 3:00 and 5:00 there has been some consistent hatching of both PMD's and Baetis around 7-mile Bridge and below on the Madison River. This stretch of river is
often ignored as is the bit along Riverside Drive... It's important to take your time to pause and squint a bit. The riffled water can hide the noses unless you have sharp eyes. Small binoculars are a useful addition to your tackle pack.
.. As we mentioned last Saturday, the backside of the 7-mile bridge area is fishing pretty good and catching is getting better with large nymphs and stonefly imitations. It's well worth the scramble and careful casting to fish this stretch. Look for dark spots in the undercut banks. Wading may not be necessary to gather up a
good fish along this lightly fished shoreline... Take a walk from the road and fish the nearly empty sections of the Gibbon River around Tuff Cliff, and for about a mile above. The water is cold, clearing, and underfished. There are big bugs, (infrequent though they are,) and a lot of soft hackle water just waiting for your presence.
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P.S. There's a bunch of bears this year.