Madison River Fishing Report

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.

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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.

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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.

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Madison River Fishing Report for October 29th, 2020

Dam: 942 cfs

Kirby: 1,040 cfs

Varney: 1,150 cfs

Aside from some chilly weather over the last 10 days, the Upper Madison continues to fish well this October and we are officially out of the deep freeze for the time being.  The forecast is calling for highs in the 50’s through next Wednesday and crowds have been relatively small, so now is a great time to hit the river if you get the chance.

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Madison River Fishing Report for September 16th, 2020

Dam: 890 cfs

Kirby: 971 cfs

Varney: 983 cfs

The Upper Madison continues to fish well through September.  While the smoke has put a slight damper on the hopper fishing we are still getting good fish to come up to the big dry in the afternoons and nymphs and streamers have been working well in the morning.  Water temps have been staying between 52 and 62 degrees which is about perfect for this time of year, and it looks like we have a little rain in the forecast for this weekend which should clear out the smoke for a couple of days or so.

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Madison River Fishing Report for August 5th, 2020

Dam: 1,170 cfs

Kirby: 1,320 cfs

Varney: 1,650 cfs

It’s been a hot one out there over the last week, with daytime highs consistently bringing the mercury up into the low 90’s but the Upper Madison continues to fish well through it all.  Luckily the forecast is calling for temperatures dropping back into the low to mid 80’s starting this week which should make for many pleasant afternoons.  We saw another bump in flows out of the dam in order to help cool the river off and we are now sitting at over 1,300 cfs at the Kirby gauge and 1,700 cfs at Varney which are great levels for both wade and float fishing this time of year.

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Madison River Fishing Report for July 23rd, 2020

Dam: 974 cfs

Kirby: 1,190 cfs

Varney: 1,520 cfs

The Upper Madison has been fishing well lately, and we finally got a little bump in the flow out of Hebgen last week due to increasing daytime temperatures.  Things are definitely not as consistent as what we saw during the first two weeks of July, but that usually happens as we start to transition from fishing a wide variety of aquatic insects to a smaller percentage of caddis and spinners and then into terrestrials.  The best window of fishing seems to be from around 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and then again in the evening where you will still find caddis and Eperous spinners hitting the water from 7:00 p.m. until dark in the upper stretches.  If you’re an early bird, dawn to 9:00 a.m. is definitely the best window for throwing streamers so there is a time slot for just about every method of fishing right now.

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Madison River Fishing Report for July 1st, 2020

Dam: 622 cfs

Kirby: 1,020 cfs

Varney: 1,680 cfs

The Upper Madison continues to fish well throughout its entirety, and the dry fly fishing in the wade section with caddis and PMDs has been particularly good over the last week. Despite low flows out of Hebgen, we are still sitting above 1,000 cfs above the West Fork with the lower river hovering between 1,600 and 1,800 cfs which are still great water levels for this river.  We should start to see the flows increased later this week as Hebgen Lake is getting close to full pool.

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Madison River Fishing Report for June 19th, 2020

Dam: 804 cfs

Kirby: 1,330 cfs

Varney: 2,090 cfs

The Upper Madison has been fishing very well lately. Flows have been dropping out of the dam each day as NW Energy is trying to get to full pool by the end of the month, but the creeks are still putting in enough water to compensate for it and keeping the banks fishy in the float section.  The river is gin clear in the upper wade section, with the West Fork still putting in a small stripe of dirty water down the left side.  Once it mixes you are looking at around 3.5-4 feet below Palisades and we should start to see it clear up by the weekend or early next week.

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Madison River Fishing Report for June 5th, 2020

Dam: 2,410 cfs

Kirby: 3,260 cfs

Varney: 4,300 cfs

Flows on the Upper Madison continue to rise and we should start to see them level off once it hits 3,500 cfs at the Kirby Gauge above the West Fork.  Floating under Sun West and Wolf Creek Bridges is still a no go, so you don’t want to put a boat in at Lyon’s Bridge until we start to see water levels get below 2,700 cfs (or lower if you are in a high sided boat/raft).  Visibility is around 8″-10″ above the West Fork and will only get worse the further you go downstream towards Ennis; however, the sub-surface fishing is still good in the upper wade stretch.

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