Madison River

Dam: 1,030 cfs

Kirby: 1,110 cfs

Kelly and I headed down river today around the West Fork, but 10-15 mph winds made the dry fly fishing a little tough as all the midges were getting blown off the water and no heads were poking up.  Time for plan B.  We headed back above Raynolds, and while there were plenty of midges on the water we saw very few trout willing to rise to them.  Time for plan C.  We went upstream a couple hundred more yards and there they were–Lots of heads up on midge clusters and adults, and they were very willing to eat our dries.  I fished a #20 Griffith’s Gnat while Kelly stuck with the #18 Black Goober Midge and we never took them off.  We had great fishing from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and we literally lost count after leaving the second hole.  The areas that we found fish feeding in were soft edges and pockets and every trout we caught was within 10 feet of the bank.  February is always a great month for dry fly action on the Upper Madison, so make sure to get out out here before the section from Quake Lake to McAtee Bridge closes after the 28th. ~ John