Salmon Fly Season

The big bugs have arrived and the fish have noticed.  Salmon flies are hatching right now in the varney section of the river.  There is even spot hatches above this into the flats.  With the cooler rainy weather the fish have taken notice but action has yet to be really hot.  The bugs hatched but have not had a good day to fly and really get fish excited for the dry.

Fishing this Week

All of this will change with the sun and warmer temps this next few days.  The bugs will most likely hatch river wide and fly every afternoon.  Keep an eye out for the flying salmon flies.  We feel the river will warm and the salmon flies will hatch all over the river at once and not the progression up river like normal. The party is late this year and most years when it is late it happens all at once. The next few days might be the days to fish the big orange dry. Should stick around for a week or 10 days.

How to fish it

Most people are floating right now with the big flows. In fact the Dam folks just put some more water in the river this last week.  It is 1900 CFS at Varney.  This is a darn good flow for us.  In fact we would like it a little lower. The rain and the big winter has put lots of water in the river.  The fish in this bigger water are still mostly concentrated on the bank and the salmon flies will compound this.  Concentrate on the first 6 feet from the bank and you should be successful.  Dry salmon flies with caddis dry dropper or a nymph dropper have been the ticket.  In fact the last few days we have been getting more fish on caddis than the big bug.  Caddis is the real king of the Madison River and should be respected.

For those wade fishing watch the flows and where you wade.  The river is still fast and strong so be careful out there.  Lots of great places to fish and the fish are near the bank so no need to wade deep.

This is the time to be on the river.  It is not going to get any better than this.  Good weather and good fishing.