Fishing Report for May 29th, 2011

Madison River

Dam: 2,240 cfs

Kirby: 2,480 cfs

Varney: 3,220 cfs

The Madison is on the rise again, which will usually put the fishing off for another 24 hours or so, but reports have been good over the last few days.  Water clarity remains at around 4-6 inches, and as of yesterday, the float section below Lyons has cleared up considerably…most likely due to the snow and cold temps we’ve had in the mountains over the past few days.  In the wade section, the morning bite has been where its at, for both streamers and nymphs, and it seems to be tapering off around mid-afternoon.  Not much has changed as far as effective patterns go…brown and black warbirds, pat’s stones, pink san juans, red midges, eggs, and red copper johns have all had their moments, as have green caddis larva.  Between the lakes continues to produce the most consistent fishing, and while the crowds have thinned out a little with the poor weather, its still getting pretty hammered.  Nuke eggs and midges seem to be taking the most fish out of that section, but don’t hesitate to throw some bigger stonefly nymphs and worms at them as well.  Streamer fishing has been fair to excellent throughout the wade section, and the front runners have been the black sex dungeon and the olive/black double screamer. Most of the nicer browns we’ve been taking have all been tight to the bank or right behind the bigger boulders.  We’ve also been getting good reports from Hebgen between Kirkwood Marina and Yellowstone Holiday.  There are TONS of crayfish in the shallows right now, and people have been doing well on darker colored (olive-ish) imitations as well as general leech patterns.

Fishing Report for May 22nd, 2011

Madison River

Dam: 1,620 cfs

Kirby: 1,910 cfs

Varney: 2,510 cfs

Yesterday was another great opener on the Upper Madison, and we had good reports all through the wade section.  Water clarity remains around 8 inches of visibility, and the usual suspects were top producers:  Warbirds, Pat’s Stones, San Juans, midges, and caddis larva all caught fish.  We also had good streamer reports from our buddy Trey who ended up floating Lyons to Ruby Yesterday.  Trey said it was a toss-up between the Olive Peanut Envy and the Olive/Black Double Screamer, but fishing got a little tough once they got a mile down from Palisades.  Similar reports of slower fishing came in later in the afternoon, and there was a reason for this…water levels around the West Fork started to rise right around 4:00 p.m.. PPL raised the flows out of the dam yesterday, so that would explain why things seem to shut off for everybody at around the same time.  That being said, look for the fish to hug the bank a little more today, and just hope that they don’t raise the water again for another few days.  We’ll keep you updated as conditions change.

Fishing Report for May 20th, 2011

Madison River

Dam: 1,250 cfs

Kirby: 1,580 cfs

Varney: 2,120 cfs

Mud, Chocolate Milk, Bosco, Nestle’s Quik, Hershey Syrup, Yoo Hoo, Ovaltine…whatever you want to call it, she’s made it all the way through Quake, and probably won’t be going anywhere for quite some time.  That being said, The visibility is right around 6 inches, and those of you who have fished the mud before know that that is more than enough to make some magic happen.  As long as there isn’t a dramatic change in water levels over the next few days, the wade section should fish very well with big stonefly nymphs, cranefly larva, San Juans, eggs, midges, caddis larva, and baetis nymphs.  As for streamers, it can go either way, as 6 inches of visibility is about the cut-off point (in our experience anyway), but a black dungeon thrown tight against the bank should elicit some response from fish that haven’t seen a fly since December.  Between the Lakes continues to fish well, but like we’ve said before, its been REALLY crowded, and please watch where you are walking above Cabin Creek as the Rainbows are still spawning up there.  We’ll have a bunch of rods out on the river tomorrow, so be sure to check back for an opening day report.

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