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I have been going to the Firehole for over twenty years now on my annual pilgrimage in June to fish what I consider one of the world's greatest rivers.  Never have I experienced what I did this year in my June/July stay there.

The Rockies, West Yellowstone in particular, experienced one of the worse winters in thirty years!  Over thirty feet of snow!  Needless to say, the snow melt and runoff kept most of the rivers of the Rockies unfishable well into July.  Rivers I had never seen within a few feet of their banks, were well over, including the Firehole and Madison.  Firehole River above, the first week of June. Picture below:  Biscuit Basin area.

Even the first two weeks of June I caught trout while blinding snow stung my face.  The Firehole remained fishable, and I took fish every day in the high waters, but it was more challenging than usual.  The winds were high, and the water deep.  There was not much wadable water in the park during June.  Most of my fishing was from the bank in boots or hip waders.  By the second week of July the Firehole had receded more than grandma's gum line!  All was back to normal, and the following weeks offered me some of the finest fishing I have had in twenty plus years!  Picture to the left is the famous Firehole Muleshoe Bend June the 8th.

Grandson with me as we watch for a hatch.

I had the grand joy of my grandson coming with his family to join me for fly fishing for his first time.  I made sure he was well equipped with Orvis "finest" and it was a joy and delight when he requested me to be his guide and teacher.  My son-in-law came ready for his second fly fishing trip ever (he caught an 18" brown his first trip to the Firehole), and my daughter joined us and went into Bud Lilly's in West Yellowstone to get fully equipped.  My wife has been fly fishing for four years or so now, and is an excellent "fisher-woman."  Daughter, Staci on left, wife, Betty on right.  The family doing the "wader thing" - son-in-law Dan and son Zack.  Teen age granddaughter, Whitney has not joined the fly fishing sport as of yet.

I have a nice rainbow in the net, and as you can tell in this picture (left) at the Firehole Biscuit Basin the water has now come down to about a foot below the bank from previously overflowing the bank considerably.  July 1st      Below is a 16+" rainbow

taken on a "hopper" July 1st on the Gibbon near Madison Campground. Note the size of the large hopper compared to the large fish to get a grasp on the size of the rainbow.  Yes, he was released and lived as a much wiser fish!

By the middle of July the Caddis were hatching like raindrops every evening from about 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and fishing, needless to say was some of the greatest in twenty years of fishing the Firehole.  A size 18 cdc Caddis emerger with a light green quill body took over 90% of the fish for me this year.   Just cast across the river, let the fly swing out (keep mending the line) as one would fishing soft hackle, and 90% of the strikes are as the line straightens out (be sure to allow to the count of twenty after the line is straight, for the leader to straighten out).  This fly is fished with no dressing in the surface film. This fly is seen in Leon Links book, Tying Flies

with CDC  p. 37.  See http://www.fishandfly.com/articles/20060702_4

Happy fly fishing and happy traveling.