EVENINGS ALONG THE STREAM (part 24)
July 28, 2011, the Yellowstone River continued to drop as the tributaries dropped and cleared, however the Yellowstone River would not become fishable until the river dropped enough so that it was no longer washing the walls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. On July 23rd the flow on the Yellowstone dropped to 12,500 CFS, however the gauge at the outflow of Yellowstone Lake was still 8,150 and believe me that is high for that time of year as the normal flow would be 5,510 CFS on the river and 3,380 CFS at Lake. As the river falls the changes in the islands, back channels, riffles, run and pools will become more evident, and from a safety point of view the river should be less than 9,000 CFS for safe floating and anything over that involves greater risks than you would experience when the flows were lower.