I usually start my fishing reports with a story about some fishing experience I had during the prior week. Last week I thought I would drive over to Yellowstone Park for the opener on the Firehole River. I arrived at the west entrance at what I thought was a reasonable time. It took twenty minutes before I made it through the gate. The first three miles past the gate went smoothly. Then I found myself at the end of one of the Park’s famous buffalo jams. One hour later, I had barely moved one mile. At that point my patience ran thin, so I decided to make a u-turn and get out of the Park and proceed to plan B. Trouble was I had pretty much put all of my apples into the Firehole cart and really didn’t have a plan B. That morning, I had stopped by Blue Ribbon Flies to buy my Yellowstone Park season fishing license. While there I visited with my old friend Craig Matthews and during the course of our conversation I remember he mentioned that the upper Gallatin in the Park was clear and fishable. I decided to drive over and check it out. As I drove to the Gallatin I encountered a slight drizzle that eventually turned into a heavy rain that turned into sleet then hail then snow. Plan B was a complete wash. At that point I didn’t have the energy to come up with a plan C. I decided to throw in the towel and head back to Island Park and drown my sorrows with a couple of Manhattans at the Last Chance Bar and Grill. On my way into the bar I ran into Rene Harrop and he told me that the Henry’s Fork around Last Chance had exploded with activity courtesy of a super hatch of baetis, March Browns and caddis. So, there you go. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home! P.S., if you decide to fish in the Park, I suggest you get to the west entrance before 8 am to avoid the early crowds entering the Park and plan on fishing until at least 7 pm to avoid the evening rush out of the Park.
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