Madison River Fishing Report
The Tackle Shop Fly Shop and Fishing Guides in Ennis, Montana
Trip Report: El Pescador Belize March 2017
Trip Report: El Pescador Lodge Belize March 2017 This was the second year we hosted a trip to Belize and the fabulous El Pescador lodge in March. Again we were joined on this adventure by a group of friends and anglers. The experience level of the group was all over the map. A few anglers had extensive experience and a few anglers this was there first trip to the salt to chase fish. Lodge: Very few lodges in the world can compare to the hospitality that El Pescador provides. The entire gro...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 2/14/2017
Is this the end of winter? Almost a week of really warm temps, an opening river and restless fisherman with the urge to wet a line give the impression that this winter is all but wrapped up. Yes it is warm right now and if you have a chance you should get out and fish before the cold comes back and you can get one more day on your old fishing license. For those of us who have spent more then one winter in Montana I can assure you that we will see some more weather before it all ends. That b...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 10-9-2016
Fall fishing on the Madison River is just spectacular right now. I am not sure what is more vibrant the colors of the falling leaves or the brown trout. Each are dressed up for the party. While the Madison River continues to be really low and boney it continues to fish well. The brown trout are aggressive to both streamers, nymphs and egg patterns. If your looking for the fish of the year out of the Madison now is the time to forgo hunting for a day and throw some fur around. Most are...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 9-28-2016
It is not hard to see why fall Fly fishing on the Madison River is such a great time. The water has cooled off significantly in fact, the best fishing has been after 11 am. Bankers hours fishing, beautiful scenery and big aggressive fish make fall wonderful. Streamers and nymphs have been the name of the game and some have still been throwing hoppers and having great days. The cooler weather last week sure help put the fish and foliage in fall mode. This short term return to summer has...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 9-18-2016
Fishing and the Madison River in general is in full fall mode and we could not be happier. While the flows are lower than most would like and many of the mid river rocks are slowly being painted white from drift boat bottoms the Madison River is in good shape. In fact fishing has been best during bankers hours. The fish start eating with the first mayflies emergence about say 1030 in the morning and continue on till about 5. All very civilized. Fur is in fashion for the Madison River...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 9-6-2016
The rapid cool down and rainy fall like conditions are just what The Madison River needed to jumpstart the fish into the happy fall zone. Barring summers return we will see fall like fishing going forward. This rain, snow up high and cooler weather dropped the river temps and energized the fish. What does this mean for fishing going forward this week? The powers that be at the dam just sent around an email saying that they are lowering flows yesterday and today. Where they will keep the...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 8-28-2016
With the ups and downs of summer and heat The Madison River continues to fish well each and every day. The Dam people are giving us a little more water in the river and that is making it nicer for the fish and the bottoms of drift boats. I feel the perfect level at Varney Bridge is about 1200 CFS. Right now we are a little over 900. Even with the lower then liked water level the river is still cool. It has been really noticable the last few days in the mornings. You no longer need to ge...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 8-14-2016
Even with the hot weather and pressure the Madison River continues to produce day in and day out. That is why this is one of the most amazing rivers on the planet. The Dam People cut the flows from last week and have settled on a flow that should see us through for a while. It is sitting just over 1000 Cfs at Varney and that is right in the money spot for my liking. Traffic on the river has been heavy but not unusually so. Most of what we are seeing is the fact that many of the other...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 8-7-2016
The river has been on an up and downs spiral of water levels this past week and through it all the Madison River has consistently fished will. When the water was on its way up the streamer bite was out of hand and on its way down the dry fly bite is good. As a general rule when the Whizard of Oz water Gods at the Dam raise the water level it knocks loose all the sculpins from the bottom and we have a few days of good bunny fur fishing. This is exactly what happened on the week long rise ...
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Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 7-30-2016
Here we are the end of July and the first of August on the Madison and all is right. Most of the other rivers in our area are suffering from warm flows and hoot owl restrictions and the Madison keeps chugging right along. Want to fish dry's yup that will work, streamer junkie chuck away, want to lob a bobber that will keep you bent as well. The dam being "fixed" and allowing water to come from the bottom of the lake has made a difference and is keeping the Madison in play while others a...
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