Lower Madison Stream Flows | Upper Madison Stream Flows
The Madison Right now is a great time to be fishing the lower Madison for big browns. The Salmonflies have moved up stream into Bear Trap Canyon, and will soon reach Ennis Lake and the upper Madison. Smaller fish have been going nuts on PMD's and Caddis, the big brutes are looking for protein like crayfish or streamers. Better get on the lower soon, before it gets too hot and the "bikini hatch" arrives...
If you have a raft, now would be a fun time to float the Bear Trap. Fish are getting gorged on Salmonflies, so try using a stimulator or caddis dropper. We've found that a lot of times fish will come up and nail the desert over the T-bone steak! Getting your dropper dry within 6 inches of the bank will often catch you some smaller fish if the action begins to slow down. After all, the tug is the drug!
Below is a recent fishing report on the lower Maddy from guide Josh Stanish:
Salmonflies were on our mind at the start of the day and when we arrived at the ramp at 7:45. We put the rod in the truck and jumped into the boat for a quick run with the Salmonflies down to Cherry Creek. The low flows immediately made me question wether we would turn any fish because the water was not up near the banks and shaking the willows. We stuck with the Big Bugs to the Bridge Pilon and Larry hooked and lost a very nice brown on the rock slide above the pilon. Trish spooked another decent fish on the lower pockets of the slide and after we floated the bank to the lumber yard hole we decided to switch up and try matching the caddis and PMD's that were hatching instead. I tied on a # 12 Royal PMX trailed with a Bunny Dun for Larry and I gave Trish a # 14 Tan Parawulff trailed with a # 14 Copper John. We caught and landed a lot of small fish on both setups all the way to Doc's Channel. We pulled into see what was rising at Doc's and there were a bunch of splashy rises at the top of the channel. We got out of the boat and headed up into Doc's. There were three really nice brown trout rising in the slow water next to the rock pile and Larry made a dozen cast all around the fish until they moved up further towards the riffle. I changed up his bugs to a small # 16 Parachute Caddis and trailed it with a # 16 parachute PMD. Larry missed a couple of the big fish and landed a few smaller bows and a brown. The big fish got wise to us and Larry continued on fishing to the smaller fish rising steadily in the riffle. Larry gave up the rod to Trish and she caught a rainbow within ten minutes of casting. After we ate lunch the Yellow Sallies started to hatch pretty well so I changed Trish up to a # 12 Yellow PMX with a copper john dropper. Larry got a Lime PMX and a parachute adams. I dropped anchor across from the TeePee Island to let Trish run her dropper through the deep slot in the middle of the river. She hooked and landed a couple of fish on the dropper.
I tied on the Bloomy's trailed with a black and tan for Larry and Trish got a # 16 PMD Wonder trailed with a Bloomy's for her setup. I ran them about 6 feet from the balloon with one # 2 Split shot above the flies. Trish hooked a good one in the deep slot across from the old bridge pile that came off after a hard fight. We never saw the fish but it fought like one of the big fish do in the Madison. We floated a bit further and Trish Hooked into the fish of the day just before we hit the campground. It was the best brown I have seen this spring and Trish will be bragging about it and sending photos to her friends and family for a few weeks to come.
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