River Flows
Hebgen Dam: 760 cfs
Kirby: 875 cfs
Varney: 960 cfs
Fishing on the Upper Madison continues to be inconsistent, but you will certainly get some shots at great fish every day if you keep at it. Flows are a littler lower than usual for this time of year, but it is still floatable from top to bottom and the river below 8 Mile Ford was finally taken off Hoot Owl restrictions earlier this week. Streamer fishing has been the only reason to get up early, with the strip bite running from dawn until 10:00 am followed by hoppers and ants from 11 am – 4 pm. Nymphs are still getting some nice fish from mid morning through the early afternoon hours, but there’s definitely a lull later in the afternoon until the evening.
If you’re an early riser and feel like hunting for a big one, I would get on the water at dawn and go for it. We’ve had some really nice fish eat smaller sculpin imitations and thin articulated patterns like Peanut Envys and Double Screamers before the sun hits the water, and they have been willing to eat a fairly fast retrieve which is always a blast. Stick with black or olive color combinations until the sun comes up and then you can usually get something going on natural/golden brown flies during the brief period of yellow light.
Once the clock hits ten we’ve been sticking to ants, small hoppers, and foam attractors along with small tungsten droppers. It’s still not great out there by any means, but on a good day you can expect shots at 6-8 good fish on the dry…on the bad days not so much. Thunder Thighs, Grand Hoppers, tan or gold Chernobyls, Bloom’s and Arrick’s parachute ants, CFO Mini Ants, and Ant Acids have been some of our “better” patterns, but don’t be afraid to get weird with it out there…they’ve seen pretty much everything at this point and sometimes something different can get them to rise up with a little more ambition.
Fishing with smaller nymphs has been a little more productive since our last report. #18 Three Dollar Dips and Crystal Dips, #20 BWO Nymphs, #20-#22 Midge larva, and darker perdigons in that #18-20 range have been the best options as of late. Just make sure you are getting them down on the bottom and keep switching up patterns until you crack the code. We should see nymph fishing improve once we start to get some cooler weather to really bring out the Fall BWOs, Pseudos, and Midges.
