Hebgen Dam 1080 cfs Old Kirby Place 1090 cfs Varney Bridge 1180 cfs Lower Madison 1730 cfs It feels good to be back in the saddle again, the proverbial saddle that is. . It is a bit more of a tractor seat but that just does not have the same ring to it. Being in… Continue reading My first Madison River trips in the books….
Hebgen Dam 1080cfs Kirby Place 1100cfs Varney Bridge 1150cfs Lower Madison 1610cfs Just a quick update on the Madison Rivers gorge ice conditions. In the past 48 hours the Madison River has broken through the gorge ice that was sending the bulk of the river to the east of the main channel. The River was… Continue reading Madison River Gorge Update
Hebgen Dam 910cfs Kirby Place 971cfs Varney Bridge 1050cfs Lower Madison 1470cfs Thats not really true. It was as cold as -32 a few nights ago in places around the madison valley and I believe it got to about 41 or 42 degrees today. Almost flip flop weather if not for the 3 feet of… Continue reading 75 degrees warmer than it three days ago
Hebgen Dam 921cfs Old Kirby Place 1470cfs Varney Bridge 956cfs Lower Madison 1470cfs Winter is here now. Literally right now, as I write, he is sitting outside holding down a balmy -10 degrees Fahrenheit. That may seem cold until you find yourself in other parts of the beautiful state on Montana where temps… Continue reading Winter Fishing….on hold for now
Hebgen Dam 1200 cfs Old Kirby Place 1250 cfs Varney Bridge 1350 cfs Lower Madison 1650 cfs We have been getting out on the water with a bit more frequency over the past couple weeks here in Ennis Montana. Now that spring has officially arrived we are getting into a time period that I… Continue reading Second Day of Spring!
It is still cold here in Ennis Montana and although we have had some mild temperatures and a good snow year winter is still hanging on. As I begin to put everything in order for the upcoming season I am excited about one new addition in particular. The upgraded lake boat. Ennis lake has always… Continue reading New Addition!
Not the most impressive headline I know. Many people have already been floating and if one lives where the weather is a little nicer in the winter there really isn’t a first float of the year. Winter in Montana gives us time that we generally can’t put the boat in to float the Madison River.… Continue reading First float of 2017
It’s now past the middle of February and it’s really starting to feel a little more like spring around the Madison Valley. Days are getting noticeably longer and the daytime temperatures are creeping up into the 40s and even 50 on occasion. If past years are any kind of indicator, Old Man winter is gone… Continue reading Feeling a bit more like spring…
Hebgen Dam 705cfs Old Kirby Place 1430cfs Varney Bridge 2820cfs Lower Madison 2990cfs Technically the official start of summer is something like June 20th but the last five or six days have felt like summer with temperatures getting into the mid 80’s. We had a rainy May and the Madison Valley is as green as… Continue reading Summer is Almost Here
Hebgen Dam 910 cfs
Old Kirby Place 1180 cfs
Varney Bridge 1480 cfs
Ennis Dam 218 cfs
Lower Madison 1389 cfs
I’ve noticed some changes out there the past several days on the Madison River. Some good, that’s to say that the changes might benefit the angler. Some not so good, depending on how we look at it. These things are bound to happen when we spend so much time in a place bound to seasons. We anglers are just passengers along for the ride. Knowing this generally makes it easier to take the days that I can’t quite get my finger on the pulse. I can usually find some excuse for this occurrence and that makes it all the easier to accept that some days are just learning days.
All this doesn’t really mean that we had a bad day. This doesn’t really mean that the fishing was bad or that we didn’t catch some great fish. It just simply means that things are changing and that it is different today than it was yesterday. Might even change back.
The Madison Valley has seen all kinds of weather over the past seven days. 74 degrees sunny and warm or 42 degrees, snow and rain from a northern cold from, even a few day in between those two extremes. The Madison Valley is in its spring cycle and it will not be uncommon to see this back and forth over the coming months.
The Madison River will begin to react to this tussle over temperatures accordingly and will generally rise and fall with the fluctuations. The Madison saw its first small push of spring melt over the past several days (remember 74 degrees). This was promptly halted by cold northern air and rain and snow, It is still very much winter in the high country as far as temperatures are concerned. The flows stabilized and even feel a bit with the cold. This is likely to change with the next push of warmer weather and the Madison will likely rise again. So the cycle will go until most of the snow is out of the mountains.
With all this change comes bugs. As a fly fisherman I love bugs. The logic goes something like this. Trout eat bugs, therefore I love bugs. We are starting to see BWO’s or Baetis. The hatches of this beloved little mayfly happen all spring and are important as droppers fishing nymphs thru spring. The real fun show happens on the not so pretty days, the rainy days, the snow lightly falling straight down days, sometimes referred to as the nasty days. That’s code for the chance at great spring dry fly fishing. Towards the end of the April and the first of May we will start to see the first Caddis on the Madison as well. The Mothers Day Caddis also known as Brachycentrus occidentals will start to fill the air on the warmer days. Something I love about this time year is that we get to fish Caddis on the nice days and BWO’s on the “nasty days”. If we are lucky we will see March Browns in the mix as well. What a glorious time to be in Southwest Montana.
Hebgen Dam 900 cfs Old Kirby Place 994 cfs Varney Bridge 1110 cfs Ennis Dam 207 cfs Lower Madison 1340 cfs It’s been a beautiful couple weeks around the Madison Valley lately. The weather around Ennis has been about as Montana as it gets with everything from cold north winds and precipitation to summer like… Continue reading Looking Forward to Looking for Bugs