Lower Madison River 3-15-10 & 3-16-10

 The fishing on the Lower Madison over the last month and a half has been lights out. We were finding fish in the shallow flats, in the deep pools, and in runs below the riffles. But, we also had consistant water conditions. This week the water levels have spiked or dropped a couple hundred CFS every other day and this has slowed the fishing down considerably. The fish are still eating crayfish, San Juans, and eggs, but not quite as eagerly as the week before. One thing you can count on right now is a killer midge hatch. The midges have been starting in the morning and staying thick until we pull off of the river. If you need to get your dry fly itch scratched, the midges are starting to cluster up around noon and a few fish are taking advantage of it. Grifiths Gnats and Para Adams' will do the trick when the fish first start to feed, but we found that when the larger clusters started to form, they would take a dark bodied caddis pattern in a size 18 or 16.

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