Madison River

Dam: 832 cfs

Kirby: 871 cfs

Indian Summer appears to have finally descended upon the Madison Valley, and with temperatures scheduled to hold in the mid-seventies through next week, it’s a great time to head out to the river for what is sure to be the last window of hoppertunity until next year.

The wade section continues to be your best bet for consistency and numbers,  particularly around Raynold’s and Three Dollar. It’s been a little chilly out there, so no need to be out on the river until 8:30 a.m., but it would be in your best interest to start the morning out right nymphing small midges and baetis nymphs along the pockets and seams– small attractors like lightening bugs, princes, and copper johns shouldn’t be overlooked but we’ve been picking up more quality fish on midges and baetis these days.  As temperatures start to get up into the high sixties around 1:00 p.m. break out the hoppers, ants, and beetles… We’ve actually been seeing more hoppers outside the shop over the last few days than we’ve seen all season. Morrish, Grand, and parachute hoppers seem to be doing the best when the fish are on them, but ants have been a little more consistent these days as a whole.

Streamer fishing has picked up quite a bit, and we are even seeing some fish moving up between the lakes…not a lot, but certainly enough to make it worth your while.  Some lucky folks fishing the Madison in the Park have been rewarded with some very large brown trout making their way up from Hebgen as well.

Madison River

Dam: 841 cfs

Kirby: 903 cfs

Its finally warming up out there, but it looks like another cold front is coming our way starting on Monday.  We’re not sure if its because of the flows have been stabilized out of Hebgen, but the upper river seems to have really turned on over the last week.  Small baetis nymphs and midges (#18-22) have been the ticket in the mornings, but there hasn’t been a lot going on before 9:00 a.m. as temperatures are still lingering in the high 30′s to mid 40′s by eight.  We have been getting a lot of good dry fly reports for anglers in the wade stretch with ants and hoppers producing some quality fish from the early afternoon until a few hours before dark– we’ve been finding a lot of flying ants in stomachs these days as well.  Streamer fishing has been fair to excellent in the Lyons to McAtee stretch, but its looking like the browns are finally on the move out of Ennis Lake, so be sure to hit the Varney stretch if you’re looking for a colored up fatapotamus.