Madison River
Dam: 785 cfs
Kirby: 1,350 cfs
Varney: 2,280 cfs
Ok…we were wrong. If you recall from our last report, we mentioned that you shouldn’t expect to see 2+ feet of visibility for at least a couple weeks. However, the 75 degree highs and warm nights have made for a very quick runoff in the Madison Range. That being said, the Upper Madison is running at just over 1,300 cfs at the Kirby Gauge and around 2.5 ft. of visibility…even below the West Fork. I wasn’t sure if we would see it below 1,600 cfs until at least the first week of July but the older you get the more you learn to expect the unexpected.
The fishing is still nothing short of amazing below the surface…it’s not quite as good as we saw when it was high and dirty so don’t expect to throw a Pat’s rubber leg out there and get a fish on every other cast– In fact, the larger stonefly and worm bite has slowed down considerably in the wade section over the last few days. We are starting to pick up more fish on yellow sally nymphs, caddis larva, hares ears, $3 dips, and baetis nymphs rather than the larger patterns that were simply lacing fish for three weeks straight. However, the really big flies are in their prime and by that I mean streamers. If you like to throw junk, then get over here ASAP because this is about as good as it is going to get until the browns start putting on their halloween costumes in the Fall. We’ve been doing best on sex dungeons, barely legals, swimmy jimmys, double screamers, and silk kitties but feel free to take a shot at them with something they haven’t seen yet.
