The Hoot Owls Start in YNP
- Thread starter Mike Cline
- Start date
Is the start of hoot owl restrictions earlier this year then in years past?
SF
SF
Not really. The fishery on these waters is generally really poor in July and August and most authorities discourage angling on the Firehole, Gibbon and Madison in the park due to high water temps influenced by thermal features. The advice is if you must fish then do it in the morning when things are a bit cooler—defacto Hoot Owl. Water levels for this time of year may be a bit lower than normal but the high temps are always the norm in July-August. This really only impacts the tourons who think the Firehole, Gibbon and Madison in July-August is a good fishery—its not, as even a lot of the resident fish seek shelter in cold water tributaries which are nearly impossible for the novice.
Those folks are just trying to have some fun, wouldn't lump them in the Touron category. I mean it's not like they are posing for selfies beside bears and bison. (Maybe they should harness that group's collective energy to charter out of Yellowstone lake and catch the invasive lake trout...no one would mind that).
A friend of mine from LA just took his kids up to Yellowstone. He got his kids a fishing rod, they fished the Firehole last week, they didn't catch squat. They're novices anyway, but right there is a cool memory for them, fishing one of the weirdest rivers there is. Probably a little like fishing the Merced in the heart of Yosemite, you're not going to catch anything, but man what a river to stand in and try, particularly when you're 12 or 13 and your dad's there with you helping you out and your sister's teasing you for running a tangle or a terrible cast etc etc
There's a picture my wife took of me, fishing the Firehole in summer, we were driving across country to move to Seattle, Yellowstone was on the itinerary. We'd camped for days- Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Badlands, Devil's Tower, Tetons. If those places had water, I fished them. I didn't catch anything except a lake trout at the base of Jackson Lake dam that I thought was the coolest thing ever (not realizing it was invasive and they're easy as all get-out to catch right there). That now-framed Firehole photo (and the other photos at the other places) reminds me of the strange places out there and of the optimism and beauty of that specific summer. This was before we had kids but with all the best kinds of uncertainty and possibility.
When the WAMI students from UW come to rotate, they might see that photo in my office, the cool ones are clued in immediately... "That the Firehole? You fish?" etc etc and by the end of the week with me I have a bunch of recommendations of where the real fish really are....
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“Those folks are just trying to have some fun, wouldn't lump them in the Touron category.”
I remember one observation I encountered on the Firehole many years back in the Fountain Flats area of the Firehole. It was late June and I’d been on the river since dawn. While walking back to my vehicle around noon I observed an old guy catch a small rainbow. As he dragged it up on shore he hollered at his wifey (?) back at a camper about 50 yards away to come take a picture. Meanwhile the poor trout was just lying on the grass. She showed up in good order with a camera and a small cooler. Once the photo was taken the trout was cautiously placed in the cooler before she scurried back to the camper. It was obvious that the old man knew the Firehole was a C&R fishery as they were very careful to secretly put the trout in the cooler. I kept my distance but continued to watch for about 30 minutes. The photo request and cooler snatch was repeated twice again. When I finally walked past I politely informed the old guy that the Firehole was a C&R river. He said he knew that but said that by the time he got a picture the trout were dead and he didn’t want to waste them. I put that in the Touron category.
I remember one observation I encountered on the Firehole many years back in the Fountain Flats area of the Firehole. It was late June and I’d been on the river since dawn. While walking back to my vehicle around noon I observed an old guy catch a small rainbow. As he dragged it up on shore he hollered at his wifey (?) back at a camper about 50 yards away to come take a picture. Meanwhile the poor trout was just lying on the grass. She showed up in good order with a camera and a small cooler. Once the photo was taken the trout was cautiously placed in the cooler before she scurried back to the camper. It was obvious that the old man knew the Firehole was a C&R fishery as they were very careful to secretly put the trout in the cooler. I kept my distance but continued to watch for about 30 minutes. The photo request and cooler snatch was repeated twice again. When I finally walked past I politely informed the old guy that the Firehole was a C&R river. He said he knew that but said that by the time he got a picture the trout were dead and he didn’t want to waste them. I put that in the Touron category.
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At one point in the past, my wife and I would go to YNP every year for a vacation fishing trip -- usually in September. I never did great on the Firehole but did surprise myself by catching browns with a Chestnut WB ... which is designed for lakes, not warm rivers.
What I remember the most about the Firehole was a comment my wife made when she landed a brown. She said : "He has a warm belly".
The Firehole... where you can catch warm belly trout.
Considering the Firehole always seems on the warm side, I don't know how they determine when it is too warm for the fish. The ones that live there seem to accept the warm water quite well.
What I remember the most about the Firehole was a comment my wife made when she landed a brown. She said : "He has a warm belly".
The Firehole... where you can catch warm belly trout.
Considering the Firehole always seems on the warm side, I don't know how they determine when it is too warm for the fish. The ones that live there seem to accept the warm water quite well.
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I did a search and it seems that 70 degrees is the cutoff for fishing the Firehole. I guess when you start out with a warm river due to the very hot water upstream in the Midway Geyser Basin it doesn't take much in hot weather to push the temps over the 70 degree range.
JimTravers¤£a!!Travers
Steelhead
Hearing them HOODOWLS!!!
Last hoot owl restriction in Washington was in 2015 I believe. Oregon was in 2021.
