Madison River Fishing Report for September 16th, 2023
Dam: 1,040 cfs
Kirby: 1,090 cfs
Varney: 1,230 cfs
Fishing on the Upper Madison has been far more consistent over the last 2 weeks, and we have finally been getting some good dry fly fishing during the late morning and afternoon hours. Fish have been looking up in the sun for hoppers and ants and the cloudy days have produced some good nymph fishing with midges and small mayfly nymphs and emergers. Daytime temperatures have been peaking in the low to mid 70’s for much of September, but it looks like Fall is just around the corner starting this Thursday.
There hasn’t been a huge rush to get to the river lately, as the only thing going on before 10 am has been streamer fishing. It’s still not great, but you can usually get some good fish to chase larger articulated patterns like envys, dungeons, and double screamers from O’Dark thirty until mid morning. After that we have been getting good fish on nymphs until after lunch and then focusing on terrestrials from 11:30 ish until 5:00…either way, the best window seems to be from noon until 3:30 or so. For nymphs, we have been throwing mostly smaller patterns. Midges in the morning and small mayfly nymphs, perdigons, Spanish bullets, and BWO emergers in the early afternoon. That said, some really good fish have been looking up lately so don’t be afraid to throw a dry fly if you can’t figure out what they’re eating below the surface.
Hoppers have started to come into play but it has been mostly about the Ant. Trail a CFO Ant, Ant Acid, Arrick’s parachute, or Epoxy Ant behind your favorite hopper and you will be rewarded out there…once the rain and cooler weather moves in next week it will be done for awhile though. Some of our best hoppers have been tan and flesh Thunder Thighs in #12-#14, tan and gold Thunder Grass Hoppers in #12, and Tan Grand Hoppers in #12-#14.
