Madison River
Dam: 440 cfs
Kirby: 649 cfs
Varney: 968 cfs
The Upper Madison continues to fish extremely well despite unseasonably low water conditions. We’ve been getting a lot of calls in regards to salmonfly whereabouts, and while it hasn’t exactly “gone off,” you’ll find the bulk of the hatch half way between Story and Varney Bridge all the way down to 8-Mile. My guess is that with the low flows and warmer temps in the forecast, we should see the majority of our salmonflies starting to crawl out from McAtee down to Palisades this week and possibly the entire river all at once…we’ll keep you posted on any further big big activity in the days to come. The dry fly fishing in the float stretch has really started to pick up when it hasn’t been blowing 40 mph out there…good numbers of caddis, PMDs, Eperous, and Yellow Sallies can be found dancing across the water, and we’ve been seeing some really quality fish taken in the various slicks and off-bank flats throughout the upper river. From a subsurface standpoint, the nymph bite has ranged from good to excellent with Pat’s Rubber Legs, Golden Stones, Yellow Sally nymphs, $3 dips, PMD emergers, and olive or amber caddis pupa being some of the top producers. Streamer fishing slowed down a little over the last week, which is typically what you’ll find when fish are suddenly inundated with a plethora of mature aquatic insects floating past them…that’s not to say you shouldn’t be afraid to throw some meat their way, but I would concentrate more on early morning hours or later on in the evening. When the clouds move in and the rain starts pouring…that’s a whole different story.
