Madison River
Dam: 851 cfs
Kirby: 914 cfs
About the only thing that has changed from our last report is the lack of sub-zero temperatures out there. That being said, the nymph fishing has been very good on the Upper Madison this week, and we are still getting fish on dries during the early afternoons…we haven’t seen the full-on midge “explosion” yet, but that should get going here very shortly. The usual fare of #18 $3 Dips, midge larva/pupa, Pat’s Rubber Legs, Nuke Eggs, and baetis nymphs have been about all you need to know, and the traffic has been minimal to say the least. If head-hunting is more your forte, I would concentrate on the slicks between Raynolds and Three Dollar right now and make sure I was on the water around noon or so…not that it can’t happen earlier, but I would say that average emergence time occurs somewhere between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m.. We are still getting a few fish on streamers, but S-L-O-W retrieves have been the name of the game as of late.
