And The Heat Goes On

85° F IN OCTOBER ?

Average Max = 55° F

oh well

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.. As the warm weather continues, (briefly interrupted by insignificant cooling showers,) the neighborhood hunters and fishers are befuddled about how to approach this most searing of late fall weather in recent memory.

Upper Gllatin Dry Channel

.. It looks like after the hottest decade on record, it’s the hottest year on record, and barely removed from the hottest week of all time in satellite record, (LINK.)
.. Don't fish the Gallatin River above Bacon Rind Creek. Don't fish above Mile Post 25. Don't fish the Confluence Meadows or Fan Creek.
.. Don't even think about fishing until you're well below Specimen Creek. And then, don't bushwhack through the willows because the bears are thick.
.. And why not? Simple enough; there's no water. And where there's no water, there's no fish; not even the fabled sand trout of Arrakis.

Upper Gallatin Nearly Dry Channel

.. The hoppers are dying of heat stroke and the beetles only come out at night. The heated air is so thin that caddis seldom make it off the water, and the trout are too few and lethargic to bother them.
.. Or: it's so bleak in the N.W. Corner of Yellowstone National Park that most of our fishing neighbors have taken up indoor, (air conditioned,) shuffleboard.
.. Some fishers are braving the intense heat and lung searing dryness, (not really as bad as it gets around Bad Water, California,) and occasionally hooking up with a dehydrated and oxygen-starved trout.

Local Hopper - Not Hopping

.. These poor fish look worse than kippered herring and some of them are floating belly up in the few shallow runs left in the Confluence Meadows.
.. Discharge from Bacon Rind Creek , and Specimen Creek add just enough water to the Gallatin River to make fishing a possibility.
.. Catching is probably still a crime, but it's being done.
..There are a few runs and deep holes in the meadow sections of the river along the Bighorn Trail that still hold energetic fish.
.. These are the fish that the bears and coyotes haven't caught yet. Human entrails full of jelly beans have been reported but remain unverified as of this moment, (thanks Tom.)

Fish Here If You Must

.. Were we rich enough to afford the gasoline we would sail across the park to the Lamar River. There's still water over there, along with bugs, fish and good catching.
.. Were we smart enough we would take our own advice and saunter down the shady path beside the upper Firehole River.
.. Were we sociable enough we'd hitch a ride with the neighbors that have cabin cruiser's on Yellowstone Lake or Hebgen Lake.
.. As it is, we choose to visit the Gallatin River near the big shady pools around Black Butte. Had some brief dances and a fairly long conversation with fish in the 10" - 12" range. But we bailed out when the sweat fogged our trifocals.
.. If you have an excursion planned to this part of the world in the near future, please exercise the telephone. Locales, hatches, heat, and water temperature will affect your chances for catching.
.. Call a local fly shop and ask to speak to someone that was on the water an hour ago. You may get some good tips. Better yet visit them and ask the hard questions: when did you last fish that stretch?, or have you ever fished that stretch?, or who told you that story?, or are there a lot of fish there?, or . . . .

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