Fishing Report for May 22nd, 2013

Madison River

Dam: 722 cfs

Kirby: 1,150 cfs

Varney: 1,800 cfs

Water clarity has improved throughout the upper river and we are now sitting at around 2 feet of visibility in both the wade and float stretches of the Madison.  We had our first report of decent dry fly fishing from a few customers that were throwing baetis duns above Raynolds today…they didn’t kill it by any means but it’s a good sign for the weeks to come.  It seems like the nymph fishing has slowed down a little bit on average, but the customers that have been doing well seem to have one thing in common: small droppers.  While you can still get a fair amount of fish to eat your rubber leg, most of the quality fish we are landing under the indicator have come on #18-20 baetis nymphs–Other honorable mentions have been #16-18 red serendipities and copper johns, purple lighting bugs, olive hares ears, and zebra midges.  Streamer fishing has ranged from good to extraordinary and most of the larger browns have all been within 6″ or less of the bank.  As usual, olive and black have been the go-to colors on the overcast days, but we’ve had some good reports on white and yellow patterns when the sun has been on the water.

Fishing Report for May 19th, 2013

Madison River

Opening Weekend

Dam: 697 cfs

Kirby: 1,280 cfs

Varney: 2,090 cfs

Just about everyone that walked in the shop yesterday afternoon had a smile on their face and plenty of great fish stories to share around the counter.   Despite good numbers of BWOs and March Browns on the water, we didn’t hear much in the way of good dry fly fishing from most anglers, but that’s to be expected when you’re faced with roughly a foot of visibility.  The nymph bite on the other hand was a whole different story.  As usual, a brown Pat’s Rubber Leg seemed to be the common thread that tied most anglers into fish, but we must have heard of 12-15 different dropper flies that were effective– red serendipities, baetis nymphs/emergers, zebra midges, lightning bugs, three dollar dips, crystal dips, olive hares ears, pheasant tails, eggs, and caddis larva to name a few (although we could keep going).  Streamer fishing was pretty much “lights out” as well, and the fly of the day was Kelly’s Olive Sump, followed by the tried and true dirty water special: the black sex dungeon.  Long story short…the subsurface fishing in the wade section is incredible right now, and that isn’t likely to change any time soon.

 

Fishing Report for May 16th, 2013

Madison River

Dam: 749 cfs

Kirby: 1,350 cfs

Varney: 1,990 cfs

Clarity Update:  The plug of mud finally made it to the end of Quake, and we are now sitting at around a foot of visibility above the West Fork.  While this will certainly affect the dry fly fishing over the weekend, the nymph and streamer bite should be outstanding.  Those running an indicator will want to have a good supply of brown and black rubber legs, prince nymphs, pink and red San Juan Worms, pheasant tails, zebra midges, and baetis nymphs/emergers (yup…they eat small stuff in the mud too).  If ripping larger streamers is more your style, black and olive sex dungeons are usually hard to beat when the clouds roll in, and that is exactly what the forecast is calling for through the weekend.  Your only shot at fishing clear water right now is between Hebgen Dam and Cabin Creek, but it has been B-U-S-Y on the weekdays and has been known to achieve complete human saturation on the weekends…long story short: Be prepared to share the water if you head up that way, and please watch out for spawning redds.  We’ll keep you updated on fishing reports as well as river conditions as they roll in over the next few days, and hope to see everybody up here for the opener this Saturday.

Just a reminder that the Madison between Quake Lake and McAtee Bridge is closed until May 18th, as is Ennis Bridge to Ennis Lake.

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Joyce's Rainbow John Caught on an Olive/Black Double Screamer Three Dollar Doug's Brown eightmile
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