Madison River

Dam: 1,390 cfs

Kirby: 2,280 cfs

Another letter from PPL:

A flow change was made at Hebgen today about 1:00 PM. The flows were reduced from about 1610 cfs to about 1400 cfs. This adjustment plus the rain should bring the project up to full pool over the next few days. Hebgen Lake is at elevation 6534.48 ft which is 0.39 ft from full. Inflows are estimated to be about 1600 cfs.

The falling water and increased visibility must have flipped a switch because the nymph fishing on the Upper Madison has been great over the last few days.  Anytime you find soft water, whether it be along the banks or in slicks behind boulders, you’ll find fish–it’s as simple as that. We say this a lot, but it’s very important to spend your time fishing productive looking water and skipping over the stretches that are just too fast to hold fish this time of year.  Right now we’ve been doing best dropping red midge patterns like snow cones and dips off the back of brown rubberlegs.  If that doesn’t seem to be working, try throwing some larger attractors like Princes and squirrel nymphs and you should have some luck.  The stretch between the lakes has been fish really well too, but there have been a lot of people up there.  Cabin Creek is still pumping in mud, so most anglers have been concentrating on the areas above the Campfire, and seem to be doing best throwing small midges and baetis nymphs in the likely spots.  We also heard through the proverbial grapevine that some big bugs were flying around Bear Trap Canyon yesterday, but that is yet to be confirmed.  We’ll keep you updated on conditions in the days to come.

Dam: 2,650 cfs

Kirby: 3,200 cfs and rising

Another letter from PPL…

Inflows into Hebgen Lake continue to be about 2615 cfs. To slow down the rate of filling the lake and account for potential rainfall forecasted for the next several days, two increases were made today. One at about noon and the second about 2:00 PM. The outflow was increased from about 2300 cfs to about 2670 cfs. Hebgen Lake is at elevation 6534.57 ft which is 0.30 ft from full.

Fishing has been tough with the rising water, but once she stabilizes for a few days things should be good in the wade section again.  We’ll keep you posted on any new developments as soon as we get the word.