Madison River Fishing Report for April 30th, 2019
Dam: 1,790 cfs
Kirby: 1,850 cfs
Varney: 2,130 cfs
Fishing on the Upper Madison has been solid lately despite the cold snap and brutally frigid winds that came in over the weekend and lasted through Monday night. Obviously you want to keep an eye on the forecast these days if you plan on floating, as 25-30 mph north winds are not anybody’s idea of a good time. The good news is that you can usually find a little shelter in the upper wade stretches as well as between the lakes if wind is an issue. From the looks of things we are going to start warming up a little bit around here on Thursday, with highs in the fifties and sixties expected through the weekend. All the ramps are good to go in the float section with the exception of Ennis, but it shouldn’t be more than another week or two.
Nymphs are still the way to go out there, as the bugs that are hatching haven’t been on the water long enough to get fish looking up with all the wind we have been experiencing. Not much has changed from our last report as far as productive patterns are concerned — Small Pat’s Rubber Legs, Kelly’s BWO Nymph, Black Three Dollar Dips, Purple Lighting Bugs, Jujubee midges, BWO Barr’s Emergers, Green Machines, and olive Caddis Larva are still getting plenty of attention out there, with the action on the baetis nymphs coming around noon through three o’ clock. If you get lucky and find yourself without much of a breeze to contend with, make sure to have some midges and baetis dries in your box and we are still doing best on #20 Goober Midges and #20-22 Gray CDC Midge Adults for the midges, and Nyman’s BWO Cripple, Tilt Wing Duns, and BWO Film Critics for baetis duns. We have also seen a lot more adult skwallas in the upper portions of the river, and have been picking more fish up on small chubbies and darker foam skwalla patterns over the last four or five days…it doesn’t hurt to drop a rubber leg under your dry too.
Streamer fishing has been tough out there with the cold weather we had and the drop in water temperatures, but it should pick up again by the weekend once we start to see water temps get back into the 45-46 degree range. Small sculpin imitations in olive, black, and natural have been best along with small baitfish imitations like Barely Legals and Double Screamers.
