- Hebgen Dam: 923 cfs
- Kirby: 988 cfs
- Varney: 1,100 cfs
After a fantastic month of fishing on the Upper Madison we have finally returned to relatively normal conditions where some days are good and others…not so much. While you can still find a few caddis and PMDs hovering around the banks, most of the aquatic bugs are done for the year and the focus has shifted more towards terrestrials and attractors as far as dry flies are concerned.
The wade section between Quake and Lyon’s Bridge has been a lot more technical over the past two weeks, with nymphing still being your best option for numbers. This is the time of year to downsize your nymphs to that #18-#20 range and small serendipities, #18 Olive Hot Spots, #18 Tungsten Soft Hackles, and #18-#20 PMD emergers are all good choices as of late. If you are looking to throw dries, Spruce Moths have provided the most consistent action around the Pine Butte/ West Fork areas as well as between the lakes. We’ve been trying a few hoppers up there with not a lot of success but you can usually get them to look up for brown or cinnamon ants.
The float section between Lyon’s Bridge and Ennis has been a little more difficult this week as well. Once again, the most consistent dry fly fishing has been with Spruce Moths in the areas lined with conifers between Lyon’s and Palisades but otherwise the only thing on the menu aside from caddis are nocturnal stoneflies, ants, and hoppers. We’ve been having decent terrestrial fishing from 11 am until around 4 pm as long as the sun is out, but unlike any other trout river in the world, our fish rarely look up for hoppers once the clouds settle in. If you do find yourself out on the Upper Madison on a bluebird afternoon, stick with flesh, tan, or yellow hoppers in the #12-#14 size range and you will get some shots at some really nice fish…and a lot of little guys too. We have also started to see some flying ants popping up in the #14-#18 range, and have been picking up some nice fish on Ant Acids, Bloom’s Para Ants, CFO Mini Ants, and Fat Angies. If you can’t get them to look up, try going subsurface with some smaller nymphs or small streamers. Small perdigons, CDC Princes, Dips, and PMD emergers are finding a few out there as are Zonkers and sculpin patterns dead-drifted along the banks.
Streamer fishing has been good to excellent from dawn until 10 ish, but it’s been hard to get them to chase much after that unless you have a really cloudy day. We’ve been doing well on smaller streamers in the upper river like mini dungeons, mini Dalai Lamas, mini envys, and small sculpin patterns. We’ve been having more luck with larger articulated patterns on the lower river down by Ennis, but again they don’t seem to be chasing much after 10 am unless the clouds hold.
