Monthly Archives: June 2012

Madison River Dam:  1,250 cfs Kirby: 1,640 cfs Varney: 2,320 cfs The Upper Madison is fishing good these days, and we are holding at ideal water levels for both wade and float fishing.  Fishing in the wade section has been especially good over the last week, and anglers have been doing best on a combination of caddis larva/pupa, stonefly nymphs, midges, and caddis dries.  The float section below Lyons has been good most mornings, but afternoons have been day to day...but I guess that is fishing in a nutshell.  When the wind has cooperated, we've had some pretty good caddis [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,500 cfs Kirby: 1,960 cfs Varney: 2,730 cfs The flow out of Hebgen has dropped 600 cfs over the last three days, and all the creeks are running clear...looks like run off is just about over around these here parts, and we're stilling holding at around 3.5 feet of visibility.  We had a great nymph bite a couple days ago, but the third drop in the water seemed to throw it off yesterday, as fish were probably more concerned about finding new homes than they were about eating.  That being said, we will probably be holding at [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,770 cfs Kirby: 2,280 cfs Varney: 3,000 cfs The Upper Madison is looking good these days, and we're currently holding at around 3.5 feet of visibility.  Despite the improved clarity, it sounds like the fishing has been a little inconsistent over the last few days, and the fish seem to want different bugs from spot to spot.  The rubber leg bite has slowed down quite a bit, but we are still picking up some nice browns on them around the faster seams.  Otherwise it has been mostly caddis larva/pupa that have been doing the most damage, with [...]

Madison River Dam: 2,100 cfs Kirby: 2,580 cfs Varney: 3,470 cfs We've had another great week of fishing on the Upper Madison, and the nymph and streamer bite continues to impress even the most skeptical anglers on just how well the upper section fishes in the dirt.  Visibility is still around 1.5 feet, but with Cabin and Beaver Creeks slowing down, and over 2,000 cfs of clear water coming out of the dam, we should start to see improvements by early this week.  As far as patterns go, the worm bite has been feast or famine depending on the day, [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,680 cfs Kirby: 2,700 cfs Varney: 4,330 cfs The flow up here has been rising steadily over the past 4 days, and just about all the creeks in the drainage are gushing mud.  In addition, another plug of mud has made its way through Quake, and we are back to around 2 feet of visibility above the West Fork.--Today could either be an epic san juan or streamer day or the fishing could be a little off.  Either way, there is still very little in the way of foot traffic up here, so don't let the lack [...]

Madison River Dam: 1,620 cfs Kirby: 1,990 cfs Varney: 2,640 cfs The flow out of Hebgen Dam has gone up almost 400 cfs over the last week, and we are currently holding at just under 2,000 cfs above the West Fork.  While this may wash out a little more holding water than we had a few days ago, when you do find soft water...there will usually be a pile of fish lying beneath it.  We haven't been getting many reports from anglers due to the fact that there's hardly anyone over here right now, but the streamer crowd had great [...]