Fly Fishing In Yellowstone National Park: Don't Breathe The Air

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Don't Breathe The Air

WILDFIRES GROWING

Widespread A.Q. Alerts Issued

kids and elderly warned

INCIWEB PHOTO: MARSTON FIRE

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.. With our spate of thunderstorms and gusty winds last Friday have come expanded wildfires and an air quality alerts for most of western Montana, (and Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, etc.)
.. The dense smoke in northern Montana is the result of the Wolverine Fire in Washington, (LINK,) and our current wind patterns.
.. The largest fire in Montana is in Glacier National Park: none are reported for Yellowstone National Park, (YET!)
.. County officials in Yellowstone County have enacted a Stage I Fire Alert and it's attendant restrictions. We expect the Gallatin National Forest to do the same shortly.

Resources

INCIWEB
Montana DEQ Wildfire Smoke Updates
Montana DEQ Air Quality Forecast

.. The air quality alert is in effect until tomorrow and is issued for Beaverhead, Broadwater, Cascade, Deer Lodge, Fergus, Flathead, Gallatin, Glacier, Granite, Jefferson, Judith Basin, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Madison, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Park, Pondera, Powell, Ravalli, Sanders, Silver Bow, and Teton counties.
.. The air quality is currently very unhealthy in Missoula, Hamilton, and Butte. It's unhealthy in Libby Frenchtown, Helena, and Bozeman.
.. Unhealthy air for sensitive groups, is reported in St. Mary, the Flathead Valley, Great Falls, Lewistown, and Seeley Lake.

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.. Our neighbors are finding that terrestrials are the ticket for catching dance partners along the Gallatin River in Yellowstone National Park.
.. The grasshoppers are finally in full flight and finding the water with wonderful regularity. The ants are still on the wing and on foot. Navigation problems for both colony types provide attractive tidbits for trout.
.. The frugal and creative fishers, (just down the block,) have taken to mangling and mashing up their leftover salmonfly imitations and then attaching a beetle as a trailer. Working good!

BIG AND UGLY - SO SOON??

.. We've seen cell phone reports from the Firehole River along the trail to Lonestar Geyser.
.. It may be just a wee bit early but, it looks like the Brook Trout are in spawning colors. If this is the case, wildly aggressive fish will be encountered in this stretch of water.

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.. Eager fanatics and optimistic neighborhood fishers have started tying up the big uglies for Fall fishing.
.. This obsessive behavior has been engendered by reports of large submarines in Hebgen Reservoir near the debouching Madison River. We've seen the cell phone pictures - giant pudgy fish with small heads and brilliant colors. An early Fall may be in the offing - who can say?

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