Madison River Fishing Report for September 1st, 2022
Dam: 1,010 cfs
Kirby: 1,160 cfs
Varney: 1,290 cfs
Fishing on the Upper Madison has improved over the last week due to cooler air and thus cooler water temperatures, but we have another week of hot weather coming our way according to the forecast. We are looking at highs in the low to mid 90’s through early next week so you’ll want to get on the water early as the fishing will get pretty tough around 3:00 pm until we start getting some colder nights again. The good news is that we received another 150 cfs out of the dam this week, so flows on the Madison are still in great shape heading into September.
Most of the good dry fly fishing to be found is still in that 11:30 am – 2:30 pm range and we have seen more fish coming up for ants, attractors, and small hoppers lately and in that order of productivity. We have had good streamer fishing from dawn until around 8:00 am and some decent mornings with nocturnal stoneflies, but the mid morning to early afternoon window is still your best bet. Fish just seem to be turning off once water temperatures start to get around 68 and above, so take a break and let the water cool down a little before heading back out for the last couple hours before dark.
The upper wade section between Quake and Lyon’s Bridge is still predominantly a nymph game, with small perdigons, serendipities, green machines, and other small mayfly nymphs. We have had decent dry fly reports on ants and small attractors like royal pmx’s and purple hazes but the hopper bite just isn’t there this year. We are picking fish up in the float stretch on similar patterns and the ant has been bringing up a lot more fish than the larger hopper patterns this week. Some of our favorite ant patterns this time of year are Kelly’s Ant Acid, Cinnamon Toast Ants, Arrick’s Parachute Ant, and the Delektable CDC Flying Ant. Hopefully we will get some cooler temperatures heading our way here shortly, but in the meantime the dry fly fishing has improved over here and conditions should only get better in the weeks to come.
