Madison River Fishing Report for August 6th, 2022
Dam: 1,290 cfs
Kirby: 1,430 cfs
Varney: 1,640 cfs
Its been a tough bite on the Upper Madison this week. There have been periods of good dry fly fishing, streamer fishing, and nymph fishing but it has been all over the place for the most part. Early mornings have been the most consistent with streamers and nocturnal stones, but afternoons have been fairly unproductive due to warm water temperatures and plenty of wind. Also worth noting is that the section between 8 Mile Ford and Ennis Lake is on Hoot Owl Restrictions as of August 2nd, meaning that it is closed to fishing between 2:00 pm and midnight. The entire river upstream from 8 Mile is still fishable all day. The rain and colder temperatures over the two days have certainly helped, as the streamer bite yesterday and today was fantastic, and we should start to see fishing improve here again shortly.
You can still find a decent number of Caddis, Small PMDs, and Eperous in the wade stretch between Raynold’s and Pine Butte but the bugs are pretty sparse once you get below Lyon’s Bridge. We should have another 5-7 days of evening Caddis and spinner falls up high, and that has been the most consistent dry fly action we have had over the last week. As previously mentioned, we are seeing nocturnal stoneflies hatching from Lyon’s all the way down to Ennis and there have been some spruce moths hitting the water in the areas lined with conifers, but everyone is basically waiting for the terrestrial bite to start taking off. We have only had 3-4 days of really good hopper fishing so far, but give it a little more time and it will turn on here shortly. Small Morrish Hoppers, Thunder Thighs, and Skippy Hoppers in Tan and Pink have been our best producers from noon until 3:00 pm..
Fishing with nymphs has been fair to good depending on the day. Small dips and PMD emergers have been best in the mid to late morning hours along with attractor like FFKA Princes, Perdigons, and small caddis emergers. Pat’s Rubber Legs in #8-#10 has also been getting some nice fish in the float section early in the morning.
Streamer fishing has been good to excellent in the mornings as well, but the majority of the activity starts to wane after 10:00 a.m.. If you are an early riser, you can get into some great fish with Dungeons, Envys, Mini Whiteys, Double Screamers, and Boogie Men. Olive and Black have been our best colors in the morning but we have been getting some nice ones on Olive/White, White, and Natural once the sun hits the water.
We wish we had a better report for you, but the river has been fishing extremely well for 4-5 months straight and you are going to have a tough week or two every once in a while. Our hope is that the terrestrial fishing picks up here shortly and fish start looking up with a little more regularity this coming week.
