Madison River

Dam: 1,010 cfs

Kirby: 1,040 cfs

Varney: 1,130 cfs

Not much has changed over the last week here on the Upper Madison.  Mornings and evenings continue to produce the most consistent fishing, but the afternoons are still a little more day-to-day than we’d like to see.  One day we have a great nymph and ant bite, and the next day it’s all 12-13 inchers and whitefish…go figure.  The wade section continues to be the surest best around here, and we’ve been doing best nymphing $3 dips, Red serendipitys, and diving caddis when they haven’t been looking up.  The hopper bite is still not really happening up here, despite a growing number of hoppers in the #8-14 range along the banks.  If hoppers are your thing, you’ll probably do better fishing between McAtee and Ennis, as we are still getting some good fish to come up and eat down low.  Ants and small attractors are the way to go if you’re looking to throw dries in the wade section, and some of our better patterns have been cinnamon or brown ant acids, CDC Water wasps, and Delektable CDC Flying ants in cinnamon.  If you are planning on heading out this way, make SURE to have some #12-14 flying ants in your box…it’s no guarantee that you’ll see them hit the water, but you’ll be kicking yourself all the way home if they do and you aren’t prepared.  The float section below Lyons has continued to have good early morning fishing with nocturnal stone patterns from O’Dark-30 until 9:00 a.m. or so, but it’s mostly been a nymphing game from late morning on…again, small serendipitys have been the flies of choice, but caddis larva, red and black midges, and small attractors should not be overlooked.  Streamer fishing has been the way to go when the clouds move in, and again in the evening, but it’s been a little spotty under the bright sun–Hopefully these colder temperatures will start to wake up the big browns in the weeks to come.

Madison River

Dam: 1,030 cfs

Kirby: 1,090 cfs

Varney: 1,180 cfs

Colder nights, and thus colder water temps have improved fishing throughout the wade section over the last week.  We are still seeing a few caddis above Raynold’s Bridge as well as Epeorus spinners, which has made for some good evening dry fly fishing after 7:00 p.m., but nymphing has still been the way to go during the day if you are looking for numbers.  Three Dollar Dips in #16-18 have been the most consistent, but black or red midges, caddis larva, and even baetis nymphs (in the a.m.) should be in the rotation as well.  We’ve been getting a few reports of good hopper fishing on smaller Dave’s and parachute hoppers during the afternoon, but ants have proven to be the terrestrial of choice over the last few days, so I wouldn’t be without a good selection of black, cinnamon, or brown patterns in #14-18 if you’re planning on heading over here– Tonight was the first emergence of flying ants (#14 Honey) outside the shop, so hopefully they will be hitting the water throughout the Upper Madison over the next few weeks.  If you are lucky enough to see an ant fall, it will usually take place between 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m…

The float section continues to be a little more inconsistent, but we’ve still had some great days this week running small serendipitys and attractors under the indicator.  For whatever reason, the A.M. streamer bite has slowed down considerably over the last week below Lyon’s, but you will still have a shot at some of the larger browns in the river if you decide to throw some junk at them before the sun hits the water…we just aren’t seeing the numbers of fish coming to the fly that we did in the previous three weeks.  The hopper bite has ranged from good to non-existent, but ants and smaller dries like purple hazes and PMXs have been taking some nice fish when trailed behind them.  Our nocturnal stones are still around as well, so don’t hesitate to throw some smaller chernobyls in the morning and again after the sun goes off the water.