June 21st – June 26th | Upper Madison River Fishing Report

Summer has officially begun; the Madison Valley has changed overnight! Runoff has begun to subside and the water is clearing up to a gorgeous dark/emerald green! We started the week with flows at 2,700cfs at Kirby, 4,500cfs at Cameron, 2,300cfs coming below the Hebgen Dam. On the 25th – 26th Northwestern Energy started to decrease flows by 30% each day to compensate for decrease of intake into Hebgen and keep as much water in the lake as possible for the hotter days to come. Flows by the 26th are 1,600cfs at Kirby, 2,600cfs at Cameron and 863cfs below the Hebgen Dam. We have continued to caution people about floating from Lyons to Pallisades regarding the Sun West Bridge and the Wolf Creek, especially earlier this week with the higher flows. Wolf Creek Bridge did have a log across the middle blocking through access from every spot except the far left or west side, however, we have heard reports that later this week the log is gone, and the bridge is passable.

As for the fishing, it is just getting better and better! As the water clears, flows lower Salmon Flies are going to appear just any day now! We have seen Bomber Caddis from Palisades down and there is surface and subsurface action occurring. Nymphs and Streamers have been predominately the most productive means of fishing this week and the usage of weight to get the flies to slow down and deep enough for the fish to snap it! We have changed our hours this week as of the 24th to 7am-7pm everyday! In closing, as always, the pictures tell the best story!

Nymphs: Delektable Lil’ Spanker Silver #12-#16, Delektable TGBH Sure Strike Yellow, Peacock #14-#16, BH Shop Vac Olive #16-#18, BH Lightning Bug Pearl, Silver #14-#16, BH Jig Hook Pearl Lighting Bug #16, Formerly Known as Prince #12-#16, Pat’s Rubberlegs Black #4-#8, Delektable Balanced Flashback Olive Mega Prince #10, Delektable Balanced Flashback Hurless Stone #10, Delektable Balanced Stonefly Candy UV Sparkle Goldenstone #10, Delektable CDC Baby #12-#14.

Streamers: Delektable Screamer Double/SS/Single Yellow, Yellow/Olive, Black #8, Delektable Christmas Tree Original, Black, Olive/ Yellow #8, Trevor’s Sculpin Olive #4, Zonker Yellow, Olive #6, Double Bunny Yellow/Money #2, Yo Dali Llama Olive/Black #4.

Dries: Delektable Twisted Sister Brown #10-#12, Delektable Chubbyness UV Purple, Rootbeer #12, Delektable Halo Royal, Tan #14, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis Tan #14, Delektable Sparkle Bug Tan #14.

June 6th-June13th | Upper Madison Fishing Report

We are experiencing the calm before the runoff here in the valley for the first half of this week. However later in the week the river began to  roar! The weather has been in the lower and mid 70’s earlier this week and dropping to the high 50’s by Sunday. The fishing earlier this week until Sunday has been productive as the fish are hungry. The water is the perfect off color and the “W” factor has been at a minimum. The flows started this week at 1,050 cfs at Kirby and 2,100 cfs at Cameron from the 6th to the 9th, however with the warmer weather on the 8th and 9th we started to see a dramatic increase in flows from the 10th-13th.  The flows increased over 3 days from 1,050cfs to 2,900cfs at Kirby and 2,180cfs  to 5,400cfs at Cameron. So to say that the river was dramatically impacted by the jump in flows which we are seeing mainly coming from our tributaries.  By the 13th the dam is full at Hebgen and we saw a large increase due to releasing water from the dam. Due to these changing water conditions from the first part of the week we had good conditions for floating and fishing and by the end of the week very challenging floating conditions (to impassable from Lyons Bridge to Palisades due to the inability to get under Wolf Creek Bridge and Sun West Ranch Bridge) however, good fishing wading from the banks, especially from Raynolds Bridge to Lyons Bridge, as the water rises into the banks the fish are pushed into the deeper calmer water on the banks, stack up like cordwood and are ridiculously hungry!! Early in the week we saw a very productive streamer bite but as the water became dirtier the darker color Nymphs, Leeches, Worms and Egg patterns were the ticket to big fish! The pictures, as Paul Harvey would say, tell “the rest of the story!”

Nymphs: Delektable Hammerhead STBH Holo Silver #16-#18, Delektable Prince Brandon #10-#18, Delektable Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail #10-#16, BH Guides Choice Hares Ear #12-#18, Delektable Guide Stone Black #10-#14, Delektable BH Black Stoner #4-#8, Tungsten BH Blow Torch #14-#18, Tungsten BH Jiggy Frenchie #14-#18.

Streamers: Delektable Single Screamer/SS Double Screamer/SS Triple Screamer Yellow, White/Olive, Black/Olive, Brown/Yellow #6, Sparkle Minnow Black Fish Skull #4, Dali Llama White/Olive #6, Zonker Yellow, White, Natural #6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dries: Delektable Twisted Baby Brown #10-#16, Purple Haze Split Wing Parachute #12-#16, Parachute Adams Spark Purple #12-#18, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis Tan, Olive, Cinnamon #14-#18, Delektable Root Beer Float Emerger Brown #16-#18.