Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 9-4-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for September 4th, 2021

Hebgen Dam: 854 cfs

Kirby: 953 cfs

Varney: 983 cfs

It’s starting to feel a lot more like early Fall than late Summer around SW Montana. The leaves are starting to change, nighttime lows have been dipping into the 30’s, and people are starting to head up into the mountains with archery season kicking off this morning.  The sky is still a little smokey around here, but not nearly as bad as what we saw in July and early August, and fishing has been pretty day to day on the old Upper Madison over the last few weeks.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 07-30-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for July 30th, 2021

Dam: 1,350 cfs

Kirby: 1,500 cfs

Varney: 1,520 cfs

The Upper Madison remains on Hoot Owl restrictions until further notice.  This means that angling is permitted from the headwaters in Yellowstone National Park to the mouth of the Missouri between the hours of midnight and 2:00 p.m..  At 2:00 p.m. you gotta reel it up and head for the ramp, and we anticipate this to continue on until September.  The good news is that water temps and river flows are still about average for late July and we are finally getting a break from the sweltering heat.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 07-19-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for July 19th, 2021

Dam: 1,150 cfs

Kirby: 1,320 cfs

Varney: 1,350 cfs

*** 7/21/21 Update***

The Entire Madison River is on Hoot Owl Restrictions as of July 21st until further notice.  Anglers may fish between the hours of midnight and 2:00 p.m. but no fishing is permitted between the hours of 2 – 11:59 p.m. 

It’s been a hot one out there and the smoke isn’t helping either, but we are still getting some good fishing in during the morning and early afternoon hours.  The Goose Fire has grown to over 6,000 acres since our last fishing report and the smoke has been thick throughout the entire valley most days.  The good news is that the forecast is calling for a chance or rain from Monday afternoon through Thursday night, so keep your fingers crossed for some colossal downpours and hopefully the fire management team can get this thing under control sooner than later. 

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 07-10-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for July 10th, 2021

 

Dam: 1,160 cfs

Kirby: 1,420 cfs

Varney: 1,560 cfs

Despite the warmer temperatures, smokey skies, and below average flows, the Upper Madison continues to hold its own and the fishing is still pretty damn good out there.  As is per usual during the Salmonfly hangover in mid July, we are seeing a lot more smaller fish come to the dry in addition to some very nice ones, but they are still looking up for a variety of caddis, PMDs, Sallies, and Eperous.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 6-24-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for June 24th, 2021

Dam: 924 cfs

Kirby: 1,250 cfs

Varney: 1,400 cfs

The Upper Madison has been fishing very well over the last week, and dry flies are finally on the menu. In all but the upper most reaches you can expect to see a large variety of caddis, PMDs, yellow sallies, a few green drakes, golden stones, and salmon flies and fish have been looking up consistently throughout the day.  The river is running at below average flows for this time of year, but there is plenty of water to keep the banks full for the time being.  River traffic has been pretty busy, especially in the sections where the big bugs are present, but you can always find some solitude by seeking out different water or fishing early or late.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 5-29-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for May 29th, 2021

Dam: 460 cfs

Kirby: 886 cfs

Varney: 1,360 cfs

It’s been a crazy month here in southwest Montana, with seventy degree blue bird days, cold rain and snow, and everything in between.  The good news is that our last storm brought our snowpack levels up over twenty percent and we are now sitting at roughly 70% in the Madison Range.  Flows out of Hebgen are still crazy low for this time of year and will continue to stay that way until the reservoir gets closer to full pool.  Obviously this is less than ideal for spawning fish between the lakes, so please take that into consideration if you are in the neighborhood.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 5-5-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for May 5th, 2021

Dam: 655 cfs

Kirby: 886 cfs

Varney: 983 cfs

Despite the low flows out of Hebgen, the Upper Madison has continued to fish well over the last several weeks and we have been catching good numbers of fish throughout the entire stretch.  If you are floating, be careful on the flats between Storey and Varney as well as below 8 Mile as there are plenty of spots out there that will take a good chunk out of your chines if you aren’t paying close attention.  Flows were dropped again yesterday to just over 650 cfs out of the dam and we are unlikely to see an increase until we start to get Hebgen back into the 90 percentiles of full pool  — in other words…it’s going to be awhile.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 4-12-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for April 12th, 2021

Dam: 778 cfs

Kirby: 897 cfs

Varney: 994 cfs

The Upper Madison has been fishing very well over the last month or so, and all the access points between Quake and Valley Garden are open for business with the exception of Ennis FAS.  Flows out of Hebgen were dropped again to just under 800 cfs and we expect them to stay that way until we start to see more substantial runoff coming out of Yellowstone National Park.  Hebgen lake is currently sitting at 74.5% full and the snow water equivalent of our snowpack in the Madison Range is roughly 88%, so we are all hoping for a very wet Spring in the months to come or we may be fishing at lower water levels for the majority of the Summer.

Read more

Madison River Fishing Report

madison river fishing report 01-11-2021

Madison River Fishing Report for January 11th, 2021

Dam: 864 cfs

Kirby: 942 cfs

Varney: 1,020 cfs

The Madison Valley continues to see unseasonably warm temperatures this Winter, with plenty of sunshine and very little snow in the mix.  The good news is that there is still a lot of Winter yet to come — I’m sure many of you remember that we only had 74% snowpack on January 17th, 2019, and ended up at over 130% by the end of February so keep the faith and keep doing the snow dance. We are looking at another nice week of temperatures through the weekend, so now is actually a great time to hit the Upper Madison and get a line wet.

Read more

Join Waitlist Please leave your email address below and will inform you when the product is back in stock.