Madison River
Dam: 776 cfs
Kirby: 850 cfs
Fishing has been pretty good on the Upper Madison this week, and it should only get better as cloudy skies and winter snows descend upon the valley starting tomorrow. With the bright sun and sixty degree temperatures this week, nymphs and streamers have been taking some really nice fish between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., but again the bite seems to be slowing down for most of the afternoon, and picking back up around 5:30 until sundown. This should all start to change here very soon, meaning that you’d be better off starting mid morning and going until sundown– Unless, of course, you are planning on throwing streamers in which case it should be game on all day. You should expect to see good numbers of midges and baetis popping from late morning through the afternoon, which can make for some truly amazing dry fly fishing in the slicks and pockets of the wade section, but start out nymphing baetis nymphs/emergers and midge pupa until the fish begin to show themselves. As the weather begins to blot out the sky, make sure to keep your streamers pretty dark– 90% of the time the fish will be on either black or olive, and sex dungeons, circus peanuts, peanut envys, cougars, and double screamers are all good choices as of late. On another note, if you’re one of those anglers who loves fishing blue-ribbon trout streams in total solitude then now is the time to head up to the Madison, as there have been very VERY few people around.
