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. Town and Valley Garden are closed and will be that way for a while. People have been hiking from the road into Valley Garden. If your going out now and want to fish think typical spring fare of stone flies, worms, eggs, copper johns and midges. We have been running them about 6 ft from the indicator and on 1X. No need for the thin stuff this time of year. If you want to throw dries we have been seeing a good midge hatch about 11 and fish will eat them on top in very specific locations. Streamer guys are getting a few mostly dead drifting the meat under a bobber. Skwala and blue winged olives are next up and should show up shortly when the water warms a little more. Take advantage of our Spring on the Madison Guide Trip Special. A full day of guided fishing for a half day price. Comes with a hot lunch and all the gear you will need. Good till the end of the month.