It simple seems impossible that this will be our last report on the Firehole for this season. I’ll be damned if it seems like just yesterday we had driven into the Park back in April to say hello to an old friend.
There is a lot of water around the region that is fishing very, very well, though yesterday events conspired to put us on the Firehole and Madison.
The weather forecast (more below) combined with family and work schedules for the week suggested that if we didn’t hit the Park yesterday, it just might not happen before the closure upcoming on the 1st of November. After securing appropriate clearance from all spouses, etc. involved in the decision making process, Jake and I headed down 191 from Bozeman expecting to see a fair amount of hunt related traffic given the opening of the big game season yesterday at sunrise.
As we drove through an empty West Yellowstone the only person on the street was a successful hunter showing off a 5 by 5 elk bull to friends at Bud Lilly’s.
We headed for a stretch of the Firehole in the Fountain Flats area that had fished well late last fall. Soft hackles were again a nifty approach drifted over and around the weedbeds until the size 22-24 olives started coming off. There are some amazingly nice fish in this area who yesterday demanded a spotless drift or they were down for several minutes, but they’d be back at given the temptation of some of the last bugs of the season. The sun felt toasty despite the 30 degree temps and guides iced for the first time this year. Three hours flew before cold fingers and toes demanded a break.
It was then on to the Madison looking for some bigger bruisers – Jake even drug out the spey rod to play with…..
It got chilly when the sun dipped behind the last ridge; don’t forget to pack all of your cold weather gear this week – the forecast looks a little chilly.
The Firehole and Madison are having a banner fall in the Park; if you have to hit Yellowstone one more time, there will be plenty of fishing to do before the gates swing closed on the 2009 season.
Tags: River - YNP - Firehole
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Damned nice pics
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