Madison River Fishing Report for January 26th, 2018
Dam: 996 cfs
Kirby: 1,090 cfs
Madison River fishing report. The Upper Madison continues to fish well this month, and it looks like we are in store for a little more snow this weekend. Afternoon temperatures have been fairly mild, with highs in the mid 20’s to high 30’s being the norm, and the wind hasn’t been too bad in the upper stretches between the slide area and Lyon’s Bridge.
The dry fly fishing has definitely picked up a little bit over the last week, and we’ve started to see a little more consistency with regards to rising fish during the afternoon. It’s still not as good as we’ve seen in years past but there are enough fish poking up through the surface film to make throwing dries worthwhile. As we said in the last report, fishing single midge adult imitations has proved more successful than clusters and we are still doing well on Goober Midges, Transitional Midges, and TTT Emergers from noon until around 3:00. Nymphing is still your best bet at racking up numbers though, and little has changed in regards to effective patterns. A good selection of small rubber legs, Hare’s Ears, Zebra Midges, $3 Dips, PT’s, and WD-40’s is still about all you need as long as you are hitting the slower/deeper runs and getting your flies right on the bottom.
Streamer fishing is still a little slow, but there have been some really nice browns willing to eat a bigger meal during the afternoon hours. Smaller sculpin and baitfish patterns have been getting it done, but don’t be affraid to throw some larger bugs when water temperatures are at their peak. The brown pictured above ate a 6″ Flank Backed Creature around 1:00 in the afternoon on a slow jig, and there have been some other really nice fish taken on Sex Dungeons, Peanut Envys, and Drunk and Disorderly’s as of late. Long story short, if quality over quantity is what you’re after then I would definitely string up your favorite streamer rod and go hunting for a toad. Be sure to keep checking back for another Madison River fishing report from the Slide Inn.
