Madison River
Dam: 931 cfs
Kirby: 971 cfs
Varney: 1,060 cfs
As far as nymphs and dries are concerned, its been more of the same on Upper Madison these days. The dry bite has been tough both in the wade and float sections, and we are still waiting for some colder temps to come in next week and really get the baetis going. That being said, the nymphing has been enough to keep us interested, and we’ve been doing best on $3 dips, baetis nymphs, black zebra midges, and various other midge larva/pupa around Raynolds and Three Dollar Bridge. If you’re looking to fish below Lyon’s, the zonker/dropper rig continues to be the most consistent set up in the morning (on the drift), but baetis and midges have been the way to go if you plan on pulling over an isolating water. Streamer fishing has picked up considerably over the last 3-4 days, and black and olive have been the colors of choice early in the morning, as has brown & yellow. We’re not seeing quite as many lake fish in the lower river as we did a couple weeks ago…probably due to the fact that water temps are still in the low to mid 50’s, but they should start to run again once the river starts to drop into the high 40’s. However, we are seeing decent numbers of browns coming out of Quake and into the river below the dam…not a ton, but enough to keep you stripping the big stuff into the evening hours in search of the one.
