Many fish right next to the pull outs on the roads in Yellowstone are well educated. Sometimes it's worth to get off the beaten path to hike a bit to find more fish. This day, we went to the upper part of the Gibbon River down stream of the cascades in the morning and up stream into the meadows after lunch.
Down stream of the cascades were more difficult to access but there were more fish. They took the medium size #14 Elk Hair Caddis, Parachute Comparadon, and even Royal Wolf. We did see caddis hatching throughout the day. It's very peaceful here and we didn't see anyone else. We kept cutbows and brookies for dinner.
Upstream of the cascades in the meadows had deeper meanders and you can fish from the banks. Get away from the parking lot by hiking 300m to find more fish because the access is so easy. You have to sneak up to the bends on your knees very quietly. If you can see them, they can see you so make long accurate casts. I only had 9ft 4x leader but 12ft would have been better. Small Elk Hair Caddis and Black Beatles worked well.
I fell thigh deep into a stinky wet mud hole on the bank so walk carefully. We enjoyed the chess game with the trout in the meadows.
