Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday lifted fishing restrictions on most of the park’s rivers and streams that have been in place since late July.

On July 29, park officials implemented hoot-owl restrictions on all rivers and streams, prohibiting fishing from 2 p.m. to sunrise, due to high water temperatures and low stream flows.

Image

Now, officials say cooling weather and water conditions in the forecast are allowing for most of those restrictions to be suspended.

The exception is along the Madison, Firehole and Gibbon (downstream of Norris Campground) rivers, where full fishing closures began on July 15 and will remain in effect until conditions improve further. These rivers run warmer due to the influence of nearby geothermal areas that increase water temperatures, a park press release stated.

Staff will continue to monitor the water temperatures. The closures may be lifted, or additional restrictions and closures may be put in place, depending on condition assessments.

For anglers, park officials recommend fishing during the coolest times of day and landing fish quickly. Do not play hooked trout to exhaustion, gently handle fish in water as much as possible, and let them recover before release.