Utter Solitude in Yellowstone
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Packed up the 5wgt, wife and dog and headed south to Yellowstone yesterday for a fling on the Firehole. It was raining in Bozeman, snowing over Fawn Pass but gorgeous in West. After breakfast in West, we made it to Fountain Flats on the Firehole about 8:30AM.
There was literally no one there. The parking lot was empty. I headed out to one of my favorite stretches—Ojo Calienti to Nez Perce creek.
Ojo Calienti Bend early Sunday Morning
For four hours, I saw only one other pair of anglers—camped on a riffle near Sentinel creek. The browns were hanging close to the undercuts and very responsive to the Woolly bugger and soft hackles.
Moving down into Fountain Flats
After lunch, I made two unmolested passes from Iron Bridge to the upper end of Midway through Muleshoe Bend. There are some premium (for the Firehole) Browns in this stretch of water. Lost a number of large fish in the weeds, but landed dozens of nice browns that were hanging along the undercuts. Never saw another angler the entire afternoon. Pure heaven.
Typical Firehole Brown
The bend at Muleshoe – Great undercut banks
The upstream run into Muleshoe from Iron Bridge
My favorite Firehole Flies—caught fish all day swinging the #10 olive bugger trailing either the partridge and orange or partridge and green. Drop the soft hackle inches from the undercuts and the Browns attack.
A great day of utter solitude on the Firehole River.BTW isn’t the phrase, “Utter solitude in Yellowstone” kind of an oxymoron? Honestly, I have not been there but understand it is usually packed with people this time of year? Did you see many fishers or did you get some good water to yourself?
The Firehole can be a crowded place in the Spring and early Fall, but by October, its 12 miles of water above the falls is pretty much deserted by Yellowstone standards. Even the popular and easily accessible stretches don’t see a lot of anglers and most of them just camp on a riffle and are easily bypassed.
I like to move and cover a lot of water–fishing mostly buggers and soft hackles to rising fish or pounding the undercuts. I find a confortable line in the middle of the stream and fish downstream alternating casts between the banks, I rare stay in one spot for more than a couple of casts. Sunday, the .7 mile stretch of Muleshoe and 1.4 mile stretch of Fountain Flats were essentially devoid of anglers.–Utter solitude!!
Great Post Mike! I think it is fair to say that you are loving your move to Montana! We should try and hook up and fish sometime together. I love this time of year!
Joel
You are livin the dream.
Great Mike,
I was on the Firehole on the July 4 weekend…………….the exact opposite to your experience…….. and as an Aussie that was a big shock.Typically I don’t encounter ANYONE everytime I fish my favourite streams here…………
Great Mike,
I was on the Firehole on the July 4 weekend…………….the exact ellto your experience…….. and as an Aussie that was a big shock.Typically I don’t encounter ANYONE everytime I fish my favourite streams here…………
Yellowstone is a destination where no stone has gone unturned. Every guidebook and article ever written tells you when and where to go for the best fishing in Yellowstone. October is no exception. I was in one of my local fly shops last week and heard tales of 40 anglers lined up to to fish the Barns on the Madison–all the guidebooks say the Barns is the place to fish for big fish in October. When we drove out of the park on Sunday and north to Bozeman, you could tell by the number of cars and trucks at Baker’s Hole that the Barns was under assault.
In July, the Firehole is just another stream stressed by heat and tourists. In late October, its a dream stream for those willing to fish it.
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