[ARCHIVE] Yellowstone River Report 8/24/2020

Yellowstone 8/24: The hopper bite has continued to be good to excellent most days starting around noon and going on through the afternoon. Try nymphing in the morning before the hoppers get going around lunch time. Hopper patterns like a Fat Frank, Yellowstoner Hopper, Water Walker or Chubby in peach, olive, purple, pink, red or tan size 6-10 have been working well. The Pink Pookie is a Yellowstone favorite too. Try fishing a double hopper setup with a larger top pattern and a smaller trailing hopper smaller hopper pattern like an Otter Hopper, parachute hopper, Micro Chubby, or Fat Frank. Space them well apart to cover different lines of current on the water. During the afternoon, fishing a double dry fly setup of a Jack Cabe and a purple haze searching likely water is a good option as well. Nymphing has been good to start most mornings. A bigger top fly like a large Prince Nymph or Batman with an Optic Nerve or Hare’s Ear as a trailer should produce. Also try dead drifting buggers. The Grinch and Electric Goldfish are always good for streamer fishing. Fish are being found for the most part in deeper water, moving water that has some definition, gentle riffle water, deeper buckets and along gravel bars. Water temperatures should start dropping a bit with cooler weather and shorter days. Note that Twin Bridges remains closed for access while the railroad bridge is undergoing repair.