Madison River
Dam: 985 cfs
Kirby: 1,130 cfs
Varney: 1,300 cfs
The Upper is still fishing pretty well and the Nocturnal Stonefly bite is hanging in there for the most part. The big news over the last week is that we started seeing flight ants over the last three or four days. If you have ever hit an ant flight you know that there are very few things that can top it, be it salmonflies, spruce moths, or even drakes. Ants are a staple for trout this time of year but when the ants are recolonizing and the big females hit the water there is simply nothing that can compare to it. We have still not seen a big flight, but the smaller males are everywhere out back right now, so make sure to stock your terrestrial box with some honey ants before hitting the water or you may be kicking yourself all the way back to the parking lot. Some of our favorite patterns for imitating these are Cinnamon Ant Acids, Delektable Flying Ants, and Harrop’s CDC Water Wasp.
The nocturnal bite that usually ends around eight in the morning has been holding on well into the mid-morning some days. This has made for a pretty easy transition to the hopper ant combo, which you can hopefully fish out the rest of day. This week I have been doing well on the pink BLT hoppers above Raynold’s but most of the guides are still saying it’s been a marginal hopper bite below Lyon’s Bridge…small attractors and terrestrials (ants, beetles, etc) have been the way to go down there.
If you can’t get them to look up, then the nymph bite between Quake and the West Fork has been very productive with small serendipities, Green Machines, and midges. It’s been getting a little tougher in the float section, but you can still get it done most of the time.
