Madison River Fishing Report for June 7th, 2024
Dam: 1,160 cfs
Kirby: 1,860 cfs
Varney: 3,070 cfs
It took a little longer than we thought, but runoff finally showed up and the Upper Madison is running green and just over 2 feet of visibility above the West Fork. Once you get to Lyon’s Bridge the West Fork is putting in a hefty stripe of brown mud that seems to be mixing around Windy Point and the rest of the river is running at less than a foot of visibility downstream from Palisades. That said, the fishing in the upper stretches has been good with nymphs and streamers and it won’t be long before the creeks begin to clear.
High and dirty water can be intimidating if you are not familiar with the Upper Madison, but if you can find some soft water along the banks then there is a very high probability that is inhabited by quite a few fish. Just make sure you are getting down on the bottom and changing up your flies until you crack the code and you will do well out there. One thing we’ve noticed lately is that fish have been getting a little more gun shy with stonefly and worm patterns, especially in areas that see a little more traffic than others. With that said, don’t be afraid to throw two smaller nymphs if you are fishing on foot as that seems to be working a lot better for us over the last week and Olive Caddis Larva, Kelly’s BWO Nymph, Juju Baetis, Black Zebra Midges, Black dips, and Darker colored Perdigons have all been productive patterns.
If you decide to float the river, you will need a larger fly like a Pat’s Rubber Legs, Zirdle Bug, or Worm Pattern to get their attention when you are fishing on the run. Smaller Droppers like yellow sally nymphs, princes, and caddis larva have been getting a few but most of the fish have been on a larger fly. Pulling over to isolate water will yield better results with smaller nymphs, but it is difficult to get fish to eat the smaller fly when you only get one pass at them in dirty water.
If streamer fishing is more your style than now is the time to start slinging some big stuff out there. Dungeons, Boogie Men, Silk Kitties, and Peanut Envys have been some of our better producers over the last couple of weeks in black, olive, natural, and yellow. The morning bite has definitely been better in the wade section though. For whatever reason, we haven’t been getting fish to chase well until 2 pm and into the evening but it’s been pretty good after that depending on the day.
