Dam: 699 cfs
Kirby: 965 cfs
Varney: 1,340 cfs
The Upper Madison has been fishing well this month and we are currently running at just under 1,000 cfs at the Kirby Gauge with roughly 24″-30″ of visibility. The water is a little dirtier down by Ennis, but not enough to affect the fishing. We should start to see water levels come up a little bit after the weekend, but right now is a great window to hit the river as a whole.
We are seeing decent numbers of Caddis, March Browns, and BWO’s hatching in the afternoons but there hasn’t been a lot of great dry fly fishing since the mud rolled through Quake Lake. Nymphing and streamer fishing will be your best options going forward, and we expect that to last for the next 2-3 weeks. If you are planning on fishing the wade sections between Quake and Lyon’s you’ll want to stick to smaller midges, BWO nymphs, and small perdigons as fish have been a little wary of larger stonefly nymphs and worms since the water levels have come down. Some of our better patterns have been Zebra Midges, BWO lightsaber jigs, Kelly’s BWO Nymph, Juju Baetis, Olive Hot Spots, and Dark BP Perdigons all in #18-20. Fish have been more willing to eat larger bugs in the float stretches between Lyon’s and Ennis. If you’re looking to float the river think Pat’s Rubber Legs and Worm imitations trailing caddis larva, princes, and BWO Nymphs.
Streamer fishing has been good to excellent all up and down the Madison, with the cloudier days providing the most action. Peanut Envys, Dungeons, Mini Whiteys, Double Screamers, and Drunk & Disorderlys have been some of our better patterns in Black, Olive, Natural, and Yellow.
