Madison River Fishing Report
The Tackle Shop Fly Shop and Fishing Guides in Ennis, Montana
Fishing Report for the Madison River in Montana 6-27-2016
The Madison River has dropped and cleared significantly over the last week and the salmon fly hatch is in full swing. Today our guides fished salmon fly dries from Windy Point all the way down below Varney Bridge. There is no better time to fish the Madison than right now if your looking for dry fly fishing. Salmon fly, caddis, golden stones, yellow sallies and PMD are all on the menu and the fish are eating them all. The point of the salmon fly hatch is right now above Pallisades around...
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Fishing Report Madison River Montana 6-17-2016
Everyone is looking for the big bad Salmon Fly on the Madison River right now. It is like Big Foot some have been seen and even documented but no one can show proof that the hatch is here. Are some fish looking up yes most certainly. Are they looking up for the mountains of caddis the goldens and PMD's I think so. Will they eat a orange colored chubby probably. Is the hatch hot and heavy now? Absolutely not. When is is going to hit in full force is anyones guess. I think they need ...
Read MoreFishing Report Upper Madison 06/13/16
The flows on the Madison are decreasing each day and the clarity is a solid eighteen inches. Up by the Three Dollar Bridge area nymphing a pats rubber legs through seem lines behind boulders proves to be very effective. The stretches heading towards town have consistently been pulling fish with rubber legs and girdle bugs variants. It looks like the fish are as excited for the up coming golden and salmonfly hatch's as the fly fisherman are. On a serious note it is nice to see the trout t...
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Fishing Report for the Upper Madison River 6-10-2016
With the Big weekend ahead the Madison River is coming into shape and is ready. We currently have good clarity of about 16 inches and a flow of about 2700 CFS at Varney Bridge. Best part about this is that most of the salmon fly nymphs and goldens are lining up on the bank. This means the big party is just around the corner. Will it happen this weekend is anyones guess but it is close. Yes the river is high but plenty fishable. Just be careful floating as low bridges and rocks come up qu...
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Fishing Report Upper Madison River 6-1-2016
Don't be afraid of the high and off colored water in the Madison River right now. There is still great fishing to be had. Currently the Madison River is running slightly over 2000 CFS and while not high by historical standards it is moving right along. The color varies by the day from pea soup bugger green to weak coffee. Either way it is fishing. We have been doing best with either big nymphs or streamers. In fact many of the larger fish are on the feed. If you catch a fish look at it...
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Fishing Report Upper Madison River 5-22-2016
The Upper Madison River is running about 2680 CFS at Varney Bridge right now. This is getting into the big stage so be really careful navigating especially around the lower bridges on the Upper Madison River. If you need to get out and catch a fish stay either really high in the $3 Bridge area and above or try fishing the lower. Up high guys are still doing well even thought he water up there is slightly off colored it is still fishable. Big stone fly nymphs, sparkle minnows, worms and ...
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Fishing Report Upper Madison river 5-18-2016
The Madison River is in a state of flux right now. Is it summer, spring or somewhere in between. Are we doing the run off thing or are we going to more reasonable flows. The answer to all of these questions depends on the day. It is that temporary right now. We get a big warm up or rain and the river turns from Bugger green to paper bag brown. A few days of cooler weather and it is back to the happy color. Currently we are somewhere in between. The Madison River is holding around 190...
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Fishing Report Upper Madison River 5-13-2016
The cooler weather and even the snow event have helped the Madison River. It locked the snow in the higher elevations and cleaned up the river. Right now the entire Upper Madison River is completely fishable. The water has about 1-1.5 feet of clarity at the Ennis Town Access. Reports from just yesterday are good. Remember there is still a bunch of water in the Madison River and it is running around 2000CFS at Varney. While not historically high it makes the floating require a little m...
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Fishing Report Upper Madison River 5-7-2016
It is that time of year again when the brown water of spring hits us all. We have had the clock ticking for several weeks and not the alarm has sounded. We are seeing run off conditions in the Madison River right now and the water is off colored most of the way. The river is currently running at 2110 cfs at Varney this is almost double what it was just a week ago. If you are still looking to get bent and catch some fish there are some options. I would concentrate on fishing from slide ...
Read MoreFishing Report Upper Madison River 05-04-16
The past couple of days have been unusually warm (75 degrees) for this time of year. The warm temps have pushed some snow melt into the West Fork and therefore into the Madison. Fishing is fairly decent given the conditions but with weather forecasted in the 70s all week the river will remain cloudy for the next few days. Float fishing has been solid from Lyons to Ruby and wade fisherman are picking up fish in the braids and side channels. Anything above the West Fork is pretty clear and ...
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