Fall Fishing
The Madison River continues to produce . The river is in great shape with flows of 976 CFS at Kirby and a temp of 52-60 degrees. At Varney Bridge the flow is 1140 CFS and a temp of 50-56 degrees. This is really great flow and awesome temps for fall fishing. Streamers have become more productive and will continue to improve. The cool water and rain of the last week sure help a bunch. River traffic has slowed and will continue to slow this next week as more and more locals are chasing elk and birds and travelers are more concerned with college football than making an epic trip to Montana. This is all good news for us as we have more elbow room on the river.
Hoppers
Hopper fishing is still good for about 3 hours in the afternoon. We like fishing them from about noon till 330 or 4. This allows the water to warm up and allows the banks to warm up and get the hoppers jumping around. We have been doing well on pink and tan hoppers in a size 12. The Juicy Hopper has been the winner as of late. Also fish a small pink chubby as they are taking this as an ant or October caddis. Again all the dry fly fishing has been in the afternoons. We like 4 X and you will get tons more bites if you fish 4 than 3. Low clear water makes them look at the fly hard.
Streamers
The streamer bite has improved greatly. In fact this last week during the storm days we had some epic streamer fishing. Black leach like stuff has been the ticket on overcast days. On sunny days the sparkle shines. We like sparkle minnows and something with some flash. This streamer fishing will only get better as the month rolls along. The big lake run browns have not really shown as of yet. I bet this week we see some of the slimy lake run fish start to show in the Valley Garden and town sections. It is going to get really good for really big fish soon. Lets get past the full moon and things should swing . The best days for really large fish are in front of us. Get ready.
Nymphs
The bobber lobbers are still catching lots of fish. The BWO hatched this past week in the rain. The nymphs are still in the soup and the fish are looking at them. We like psyco mays, micro mays and military mays all in olive and size 18. Throw these little guys behind a wire worm on a bobber rig and you should be good to go.
Lots of great fishing still to be had on the Madison River. Stop by the store for friendly intel and some bug. Lots of end of season sales and stuff on clearance right now.
