Blogs

Been sending out trips to the Yellowstone the last few days and it is finally come down to a fishable level.  The fishing has been pretty good on the stone as well with days filled with lots of whiteys and a few big browns and judging by the fly boxes full of sculpins, zonkers, and nymphs its mostly subsurface imitations that are getting the hook up.  Flows dropped to 10,500cfs today and most people have been floating through Paradise valley and higher for a safer trip in the heavy hydraulics.

Due to the high water on the Yellowstone and Gallatin rivers, I've been forced making my living on the Madison river. Fortunately the fishing on the 50 mile riffle has been dang good this summer. The last couple of weeks we've seen healthy Salmon fly, Golden stone, and Caddis hatches that have provided excellent dry fly fishing. The last few days I've had clients on the lower Madison and have found trout feeding on crawfish and caddis. The Gallatin River has just become fishable and the Yellowstone is getting close.

Been guiding on the Lower Madison the last two days and both days ended up pretty similar which is a good thing cause both days the bite was on.  Good fish taken on sculpins mayfly, and caddis nymphs with some smaller fish on the surface with dry flies.  It's been real hot midday so if you wanna miss the sweltering temps and innertubers get out early or wait til the evening.  The water clarity is awesome with just a little bit of olive left in the color so take advantage of this good water before it snows again.

Peter

The Upper Madison is offering up some real summertime dry fly action with the ever present Golden Stone and caddis hatches.  Had a trip yesterday with my favorite dry fly purist clients who fished the chubby chernobyl almost all day long with consistent risers.  It does require a cast close to the bank and a good drift but if you have that going on then your set.  I saw a lot of folks with the indicator catching fish as well so that is also a solid option.

Floated the Upper Madison yesterday with Miles and had probably the best day of fishing this year.  The salmon flies were buzzing along with golden stones, caddis, and some PMDs so finally had some good dry fly action.  Right out of the gate we threw streamers and had a lot of good chases and eats then switched to the dry midday and finished the day picking up a few good trout on nymphs so it was a pretty good trifecta.  Mostly it was all browns the entire day with one good rainbow that ate the olive sculpin.

This is one of our head staff guides Miles Nolte with a nice brown caught on the lower Madison yesterday.  Miles is the type of hard working guide who knows how to see through the high water and adapt methods to get the trout no matter what the challenge.  In addition to guiding Miles is also on the fast track to becoming a well recognized and respected author.  He just recently accepted the job of angling columnist for Gray's Sporting Journal, a position previously held by James R. Babb for the last 16 years so it's kind of a big deal.

Day four was spent with new clients, Paul and Mayo. The fishing was as solid as it was the previous tow days, but the fly selection had changed quite a bit. Rather than eating big streamers like the two days before, the fish focused on small beadheads all day. Red Copper Johns, PT Spankers, and Rubber leg were all they would eat. And of course, all fished in the slower water. The water is high and dirty and it is keeping the crowds at home leaving the river void of anglers. Don't let these conditions run you off the water!

Day three was spent with client wading the upper hoping to find the same solid fishing that we found the day before. For most of the day the trout were keyed in on dead drifted streamers, but late in the afternoon the fish started eating anything that looked like a caddis nymph. once again, good drifts in slow pockets and buckets brought trout to hand.

Day two was spent on the upper Madison on our feet in the wading section of the river just upstream of three dollar bridge. The fishing on the upper was significantly more productive than the lower river. Beadhead buggers, zonkers, and caddis nymphs fished in the slow pockets produced trout most of the day.

What do fly fisherman fear more than a stiff upstream wind? Well, judging by the serious lack of fisherman on the Madison river this week, I'd say high dirty water. Fine with me, my clients get to fish where they want without having play bumper boats with other guides and fishermen. Day one of four days on the Madison was spent floating the Lower Madison with friends and fellow guides scouting for some up coming trips with paying customers. Even with the high dirty river, we found a few hungry fish hanging close to the bank trying to stay out of the abusive fast currents.