Madison River Fishing Report
The Tackle Shop Fly Shop and Fishing Guides in Ennis, Montana
Fishing Report for the Madison River 8-14-2020
The Madison River continues to impress this summer. Great flows in the river. 1500 at Varney bridge is more then normal water flows. In fact it could use a little drop to help the center of the river fishing. Hoppers and ants are the game right now. They get working about 11 in the morning and you should see good dry fly fishing after that. In the mornings we have been throwing the old Madison River Bunny and a bead. All in all good times on the Madison. We are seeing better hopper f...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River 8-2-2020
August has arrived and the Madison River continue to impress with its consistent fishing. Hoppers, ants and nocturnal stones are river wide and making fish look up during the heat of the day. Mayflies are around and will take fish in the mornings. Caddis in the evenings. All is good here on the Madison. If your thinking about fishing river flows are great about 1400 CFS. A guy can float anywhere and wading options abound. We always considered about 1200-1000 the perfect Madison Rive...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River 7-13-2020
Summer has arrived on the Madison River and the living is easy. The river is in great shape for fishing with plenty of water about 1200cfs at varney and it is cold and clear. You can float anywhere, and the wade fisherman have plenty of edge water accessible. This is prime summer fishing. Add to that lots and lots of bugs and you can see why the living is easy. The salmon flies are gone upriver and you can still find a few above the west fork but the big bug madness is gone for anothe...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River 7-6-2020
Fishing continues to be really good on the Madison River. Salmon flies are still around and near the top end of the river, caddis are everywhere, PMD can be found mid day, goldens are starting, yellow sallies are river wide and there are even a few grey drakes around. All good stuff for the dry fly angler. In fact it might just be some of the best dry fly fishing of the year. Traffic around the holiday weekend was busy but now that we are past it expect less people on the river. If you a bobb...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River 6-9-2020
The river is on the drop and good fishing on the Madison River is right around the corner. Yes you can go out right now and pick the pockets for a few fish but widespread good fishing on the Madison is close. The river is on the way down. Two reasons. First the discharge out of the dam has decreased. They upped discharge to get the mandated flushing flow. Now that is over discharge should decrease every day and hopes of filling lake for summer water. The second is snow melt. We lost a b...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 10-2-2019
We have seen summer and winter on the Madison River all in the last two weeks. What is next spring? Lets hope fall in all its glory returns. I think it will. Things are looking good right now for some epic streamer fishing in the short term. Browns are moving up from the lake to spawn and this weather will make them aggressive. Its streamer time so break out your 7 wt and lets get to work. We really like articulated streamers in black, olive, and white for fall fishing on the Madiso...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 9-17-2019
We are in the Betwix and Between time on the Madison River in Montana. Is it fall with cooler temps or is it summer with highs in the mid 80's. If you were around this last few weeks, YES we have seen it all. Should I wear sandals to the river or Orvis Pro Waders and fleece is the daily struggle. The fish are just as confused. Should they be in summer mode of waking up late and eating hoppers and ants mid afternoon, or in the Streamer Eating Fall Mode. They do not even know. The Mad...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 9-7-2019
The weather took a real turn from the summer, warm and sunshine we have come to love. With the sun and warm was the epic hopper and ant fishing. The big talk around town is will that continue? Looks like it will stay cooler and with some rain for at least the next week. Hoppers are not done yet. The fish know they are there and will continue to look for them. The hoppers are not dead just a little cold so any sunny afternoon going forward they will jump around and end up as trout food. ...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 9-2-2019
The fishing on the Madison River continues to be really good. As long as we keep the summer weather and no hard frosts the hopper and ant bite will stay strong. When this will come to an end nobody knows but lets enjoy it while it lasts. Hoppers and ants are the name of the game. They have been moving over to more ants the last few days. Not sure if there is less hoppers around or if they are getting wise that every third hopper they eat has a hook in it. Either way they are more than ...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 8-25-2019
If you can not catch fish on dry flies in the Madison River right now you are doing something wrong. The dry fly fishing especially in the afternoons has been out of hand. Anything hopper looking has been getting hammered. This summer along with the epic water we have a hopper invasion like no other. Just walk along the banks and swarms of hoppers will fly up ahead of you. Chubbies and all sorts of foam floating dry flies are keeping people bent right now. Remember every good hopper deserves ...
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