Madison River
Dam: 931 cfs
Kirby: 948 cfs
Varney: 1,060 cfs
The nymph bite has been pretty impressive over the last three days on the Upper Madison, and we are soaking up the last warm rays of Indian Summer before the snow hits tomorrow night. Grey RS2s, BWO Barr’s emergers, $3 dips, #18 silver lightening bugs, and black zebras midges have all been solid producers in the wade and float sections, and it should only get better when the temperatures drop on Wednesday morning. Dry fly action (or what little there has been) should really start to pick up this week, as colder water temps and cloud covered skies will undoubtedly bring out the midges and BWOs, so be sure to have some patterns like Nyman’s Baetis Cripple, transitional duns, and BWO sprouts in the #18-20 range if you are planning on heading over this way. Fishing in the wade section continues to produce some of the most consistent action on the patterns listed above, and the zonker/beadhead rig has been the ticket again in the float section…be advised that this system seems to be dying a little bit in the afternoon, so you might want to switch back to smaller nymphs after the clock strikes twelve or so. Streamer fishing has been a little hit or miss over the last few days, but that should change when the weather comes in…expect a good push of fish out of Hebgen, Quake, and Ennis Lakes this week, as they have been waiting for the same weather patterns that we are.
