Madison River
Dam: 360 cfs
Kirby: 650 cfs
Varney: 1,030 cfs
We are still running at very low flows for this time of year, but the river is fishing like a champ for the time being. Salmonflies and golden stones are in full force below Palisades, but the bulk of the hatch seems to be from Ruby Creek down to Varney Bridge. We are starting to see more and more shucks popping up below the West Fork, and we have even heard of some sightings around Raynolds and Three Dollar Bridge, but it’s still not quite there…that will change very shortly though. In the meantime there are tons of yellow sallies, PMDs, and Epeorus scattered throughout the Upper River and the caddis hatches in the late afternoons have been as thick as they come. If subsurface fishing is more your style, then rest assured that you can do very VERY well out there right now…the toughest days you’ll have out there are still really good and the great days are just plain obscene. Caddis larva/pupa, yellow sally nymphs, PMD emergers, diving caddis, rubber legs, and $3 dips have all been doing quite well depending on the time of day. However, you might want to put the nymph rig down when the bugs start popping as we are just starting to enter the peak of our dry fly fishing and the Upper Madison is about ready to explode.
