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Florian Hassenpflug finds the ONE! Photo: James Anderson
Chloe Nostrant representin' for the Big Sky state!

CFS on the Yellowstone is around 1,870 right now – which is slightly lower than typical Fall flows.  Still, it’s a big, fast flowing river, so fishing with a sinking line or heavier streamer have been the key, (that and sticking with it even when the bite seems slow).  Black, Olive, white, tan … all the standard colors seem to be working well.  If you are fishing larger streamers you might want to fish something with a stinger hook.  If you are fishing a size 6 or smaller streamer, then a standard hook should be just fine.  On cloudy days there have been quite a few baetis on the water.  The ones we’ve been seeing are smaller, perhaps a size 20.  Look for rising fish in the foam eddies or in slower pockets along rip rap banks.  While the baetis have gray bodies, a Purple Haze has been a good top fly, followed by a René Harrop Baetis CDC Biot emerger under it.  Saturday looks like a great day to fish on paper with a high of 51, almost no “W” and 20-30% chance of rain.  For hard core anglers Sunday looks even better for low hanging clouds, however be sure to bring your warm gear for the 30-60% of snow.