Hebgen dam 1030 cfs Old Kirby Place 1130 cfs Varney Bridge 1270 cfs Lower Madison River 1470 cfs I have found it difficult to write river reports during these times. For one; I am not fishing nearly as much was I would like. Two; with no work and cancellations into June it is hard to… Continue reading Madison River Fishing Report 4/21/2020…
Hebgen Dam 930 cfs Old Kirby Place 1030 cfs Varney Bridge “ice” likely around 1050-1100 cfs Lower Madison 1260 cfs As we tick away at the last hours of 2019 I can not help but look back on the year and be thankful for another year spent on the river with old friends, family, old… Continue reading Thankful for another year…
Hebgen Dam 1150cfs Old Kirby Place 1360cfs Varney Bridge 1720cfs Lower Madison 2060cfs I haven’t been anywhere else. So this is the only report I have. If you want to know how the Ruby River is fishing you should go check it out. I would love to hear how it is. I love that little… Continue reading Madison River Fishing Report 7/19/19 among other things
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 1360 cfs Kirkby Ranch 1450 cfs Varney Bridge 1670 cfs Lower Madison 1910 cfs Going into the first couple weeks of spring it was obvious that Old Man Winter was dragging his feet a little bit. He didn’t seem to care that we had our first official day of spring and that… Continue reading Dragging His Feet
Hebgen Dam 663 cfs Old Kirby Place 1050 cfs Varney Bridge 1700 cfs Lower Madison 2550 cfs (this gauge hasn’t had fresh reading in two days) Both he Upper and Lower Madison rivers have seen drastically improving conditions over the past several days. Turbidity is decreasing along with the flow decrease. We have three plus… Continue reading Are you ready?
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