Madison River Fishing Report for October 27th, 2017
Dam: 931 cfs
Kirby: 1,020 cfs
Varney: 1,140 cfs
Madison River fishing report. The Madison Valley has been has calmed down considerably over the last few days, which has been a welcome change of pace from the unrelenting winds that plagued the river for the vast majority of October. Daytime temperatures continue to hover around 40-60 degrees, and crowds have started to wane throughout the Upper Madison. All in all, life is good and it’s hard to beat the scenery that Fall brings to the Rocky Mountains.
As always, nymphs have been the most consistent means of getting into fish this month and the wade section has been fishing very well with a wide variety of midge and baetis patterns. We tend to gravitate more towards the smaller bugs this time of year, but it should also be mentioned that rubber legs and san juan worms have also been on the menu over the last several weeks. Some of our better patterns have been #10 olive/brown and black/brown Pat’s Rubber Legs, red San Juan worms, Kelly’s BWO nymph in size 20, RS-2’s, #18-20 Zebra Midges, #20 BWO Barr’s Emergers, #20 Thin Mint Baetis, and #20 Hare’s Ears. We’ve also seen some good hatches of the standard Fall BWO’s coming off in addition to the smaller Pseduocleons, and have been cashing in on some good dry fly fishing when the winds are at bay. The float section has been a little more inconsistent lately though, so you may want to pick a shorter float and thoroughly work the likely holding areas rather than trying to get it done on the roll.
The streamer bite in both the wade and float sections of the Upper Madison has been pretty slow for most of October, and we’re hoping that it will pick back up in the next week or so. Colder water temps and bright skies seem to have fish hunkered down more than usual, and we aren’t seeing them chase very much until later in afternoon and on into the evening. That said, we’ve had some success with smaller sculpin and baitfish patterns in the morning using a little extra weight to get the flies down in their face and have been sticking to a slow jig rather than a faster strip. Again, you will start to see a little more aggression as water temps start to climb later in the afternoon, but you’ll want to keep it on the slower side until that happens. Olive and tan mini loop sculpin, Conehead Wooly Sculpin, Barely Legals, and Peanut Envys seem to be most productive patterns right now, and dead drifting a zonker is never a bad option when all else fails.
Be sure to keep checking back for another Madison River fishing report from the Slide Inn.
Thanks Dave, got it.