Monthly Archives: July 2011

Madison River Dam:  1,120 cfs Kirby: 1,390 cfs Varney: 1,870 cfs Its been a very busy July over on the Upper Madison, and even though the bulk of the stoneflies are gone, we are still in the midst of an awful lot of bugs over here.  Caddis, PMDs, Epeorus, and Yellow Sallies are in full swing, but the fish seem to be choosing which day to look up at random...some days have definitely been better than others, but the nymphing has made up for it when they aren't looking up.  There are still quite a few goldens hanging around between [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,400 cfs Kirby: 1,960 cfs Varney: 2,840 cfs The dry fly bite was absolutely scorching last week on the Upper Madison, and while things have slowed down a little bit, it's still really damn good out there.  Salmonflies and golden stones are couple miles upstream from Ruby all the way up into the wade section, and while fish have gotten a little more "slap-happy" out there in regards to the rise, there are still plenty of big eaters to be had-- Some of our better patterns have been black and golden cat pukes, rastaman golden stones, carnage [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,390 cfs Kirby: 1,990 cfs Varney: 3,230 cfs The Madison is about as good as you're going to see right now, with ample amounts of water and healthy trout holding in it...Visibility is just about perfect. Salmonflies, goldens, yellow sallies, and caddis are going OFF and bringing fish up to the surface in numbers.  The big bugs are between McAtee and the Slide at the moment, and fish have been taking both nymphs and dries with consistency.  If the wind dies down, even for just a couple of minutes, we have seen some great flights, and the [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,530 cfs Kirby: 2,290 cfs Varney: 2,630 cfs Everybody's favorite hatch is finally here.  We have loads of salmonflies, Goldens, and Yellow Sallies throughout the float section, but particularly from Palisades down to Varney Bridge.  My guess is that we should start to see them pop around Lyons any time now, and the visibility has improved dramatically over the last couple of days.  Cabin Creek has really cleared up, and Beaver Creek isn't much further behind.  More importantly, the West Fork is putting in clear water, which should improve the dry fly fishing below Lyons.  We're looking [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,340 cfs Kirby: 2,370 cfs Varney: 3,950 cfs The flow out of Hebgen was decreased again yesterday, and we're currently holding steady at around 1,350 cfs for the time being.  A lot of new water has opened up in both the wade and float sections, and fishing has been really really good over the past few days.  Generally speaking, it usually takes a day or so for the bite to pick up again after a substantial change in cfs, simply because most of the fish are relocating in the the river.  However, there have been tons of [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,520 cfs Kirby: 2,740 cfs Varney: 4,780 cfs Looks like the folks at PPL just lowered the flows down to 1,500 cfs, and the river at Kirby should be down around 2,500 cfs by tomorrow.  A 20% reduction in flow could put the fishing off for a little while, but the Upper Madison has been fishing well all week.  Still not a lot of dry fly action, but the nymph bite has been good to excellent all throughout the wade section.  Visibility was holding true at around a foot above the West Fork, but it seems have [...]