Madison River Fishing Report
The Tackle Shop Fly Shop and Fishing Guides in Ennis, Montana
Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 5-22-2019
This cool weather is a blessing if your around to fish the Madison River right now. The flows have gone down and the water color is that great bugger green that everyone loves. This is a small window for fishing and expect flows to come back up once the warm weather hits again. Until then take advantage of some darn good fishing. More or less anything sub surface will get the job done. If your a nympher, try stone flies, worms, eggs, caddis, or mayflies. We have been doing best with...
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Madison River Fishing Report 5-17-19
This last week of sun has taken it's toll on the Madison's feeder creeks. The West Fork is now pumping in more mud by the day and has increased flows significantly with current flows reaching 3,100 CFS. With the flow being higher right now some of the bridges may be harder to navigate under so use extreme caution.Right now is a great time to be fishing big streamers and nymphs tight to the banks. People have picked up a number of fish on natural sculpin patterns and zirdle bugs. With rain in ...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 5-10-2019
Well spring has finally showed up in the Madison Valley and we could not be happier. Temps are forecast to be in the 70 this weekend. This will do a few things for us. First, it should warm the water enough to spark the March Browns , skwala, and hopefully the Mothers Day Caddis Hatch. Right now near town we are seeing March Browns and Blue Winged Olives. The second thing 70's might do is spark some runoff. Two days of 70's do it. There is already some brown water coming in from the ...
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Madison River Fishing Report 5-5-19
The weather has finally started to get better. The final grasp of winter has given way to more spring like conditions here in Ennis. The Madison river is still running clear and the fish are getting more active. We are still seeing midges and on cloudy warm days the blue wings have started to fly around. The fish still aren't keying into dries but they should start with this warmer weather. Nymphs and streamers will still be your best way to catch fish so don't forget your bobbers and weight...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 4-19-2019
Good weather is on the horizon and the Madison River is in Go Mode. Good fishing can be had river wide. Most of the ramps are open with the exception of the Ennis Town and Valley Garden. These will still be a while. Think mid-May for these. Mayflies are on the menu river wide. BWO are showing up. Think warm afternoons with cloud cover and no wind for the epic dry fly fishing. Look in the slicks behind rocks and in the inside curves. Skwala are also around so throw the big bug with a dropper ...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 4-14-2019
Things are heating up around Ennis on the Madison River and the fishing is getting better by the day. The long range forecast is for more spring like weather and that will only make the fishing better. Right now the Madison River is still in early spring mode with stone flies, worms, eggs, midges and just the start of BWO. The water temps are in the low 40"s by 2 pm on most days and the fish are starting to take notice. What we really need is a few days of warm to kick it off. The wate...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 4-5-2019
Fishing has been getting better on the Madison River this week. It is still a weather dependent thing. Get a good day and the fishing is great. Old man winter shows up and it is slow. The water temps are starting to rise and the fish are getting hungry. We have yet to see those big spawning rainbows in the river. Everything is a little later than normal. We still have lots of ice on the banks from about 8 Mile downstream to the lake. Burnt Tree has a large ice burg in the ramp. To...
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Madison River Fishing Report 3-22-19
we are starting to see less snowmobile trailers and more boat and raft trailers here in Ennis this week. winter has finally given up some and the Madison river has started to open up some. Anglers have been floating Lyons to McAtee and some have even floated Varney to Eight mile. The fishing is still kinda slow but Anglers are having success out there. most of the ramps are still hard to access and most of the floaters have been rafts. there is still quite a bit of ice and snow at most of th...
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Madison River Fishing Report 3-15
We are finally starting to see some blue skies here in Ennis. With this nicer weather Anglers are bitting at the bit to get out of the house and wet a fly. The past couple of weeks were pretty tough on the Madison River. With record cold temps the river froze up and gorged through town. However there are still places to fish if you want to get out. your best bet right now will be below Ennis lake or above Lyons Bridge. Reynolds pass has been fishing well for the folks willing to wade through ...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River March 2, 2019
If you have been in Montana the last month and survived you deserve a round of applause. It has been the coldest and snowiest month that any of us can remember. Our snow pack went from 80% to over 120% in the shortest month of the year. Most of the access sites are closed to gorged river or snow. If your looking to fish around Ennis the gorge made it up to just above Burnt Tree and not quite to 8 Mile. Everything from Burnt Tree downstream to the lake will be a month before it is fish...
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