Madison River
Dam: 1,110 cfs
Kirby: 1,180 cfs
Varney: 1,300 cfs
This week was one of the better ones we’ve had on the Upper Madison since the first week of August. With the exception of yesterday afternoon, the streamer bite has ranged from really good to just plain out of control. Fish have also looking up for small hoppers and ants throughout the upper river from late morning until about 3:00 ish, but its still day to day so don’t beat the water with terrestrials if they just aren’t looking up. With the colder temperatures and rain moving in, be sure to have your baetis box before heading out this way, as we are finally starting to see good numbers of BWOs hatching around noon to one, particularly in the wade section. Nymphing small midges and baetis nymphs/emergers has been good in the morning, but don’t overlook the caddis larva this time of year as well. Finally, this is the time of year where we start to see bigger browns move out of Ennis Lake and Hebgen so fishing around Varney as well as the Madison in the park with bigger streamers should only continue to get better over the course of the next week or so…still a little early for the big boys between the lakes, but it should start to get going here pretty soon too. In the meantime…here are a few pictures for you to enjoy that we’ve taken over the last week-
