Madison River

Dam: 1,030 cfs

Kirby: 1,130 cfs

With the cold fronts that have been coming in for the last three days, water temps have dropped into the high fifties and low sixties which should only improve the fishing over the next week.  Flows are still  above average for this time of year, giving the fish a little more room to spread out in both the wade and float sections…which is nice.  Fishing has been a lot more consistent between the outlet of Quake and Palisades than it has been in the rest of the float sections.  We are still seeing caddis here and there below Lyons, but most of the bug activity seems to be above the west fork.  Although the dry bite has been good some days, nymphing small $3 dips and other midges behind caddis larva/pupa has been the way to go in the wade section.  If they are looking up, caddis, ants, beetles, and small hoppers have been what they’re after.  Our hoppers are still in limbo at the moment…one day fish seem to be looking for them, and the next day you won’t even have a looker, so don’t beat the water with them if they’re not producing.  Our mutant stones are still in good numbers below Lyons bridge, and spruce moths are just getting going as well…what can we say…everything is late this year, but it should start to get crazy over here in the next week or so.  On another note, we’ve been having some great streamer fishing when the clouds have been rolling in, so be sure to have a black and olive sex dungeon (or two) before you head out to the river.