Madison River

Dam: 1,200 cfs

Kirby: 1,400 cfs

Varney: 1,720 cfs

A couple days worth of 60 degree temperatures finally got  Beaver and Cabin Creek rolling, and you can probably count on Cabin mudding up half the river for quite some time now.  That being said, fishing has been good in between the lakes, but really REALLY crowded…yesterday there were two guys rigging up at 6:00 a.m. and three hours later you could see 15 people just between the dam and the Campfire.  Those who have been doing well up there have been doing so on egg patterns, red and pink san juans, and midges, but streamers should not be overlooked this time of year.  A couple of us threw junk from McAtee to Eight mile two days ago, but had very little to show for it at the end of the day…we had similar reports from the day before, but decided to try it out anyway.  What few fish we did catch wanted the gray boogieman and the olive Pecs, but that was about it.  We did talk to a few guys who did alright on nymphs, but they said it wasn’t much to write home about.  Worth noting however were the amount of Mothers Day Caddis out below Varney Bridge, as well as BWOs, and a few March Browns.  We saw a couple of heads come up, but not like what it should have been.  Also worth noting were the amount of boats in that stretch, but that’s to be expected when everything else in the area is on the way out (w/ the exception of the Beaverhead below the dam).

With the warmer weather, Hebgen is just starting to become fishable in the narrows around Yellowstone Holiday and Quake is open (barely) from the boat ramp up to the inlet.

Kelly got back yesterday from five days in the eastern part of the state, with much better reports and pictures to show for it.