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Tom Croyle with a sweet late September brown... Photo: Dave Bryan
The Madison has been fishing great the last few days... Photo: Eric Paulson

As the saying goes, green is good and yesterday was… really good on the Yellowstone! The big browns are chasing stripped streamers, but dead drifting them has been even more deadly.  There hasn’t been too much in terms of dry fly just yet (do to the green water rather than gin clear), however keep an eye out for fall baetis and hecuba over the next few days… Before the Yellowstone cleared up enough we had some fantastic days on the Madison.  The Lower section was a little more crowded (likely due to the closer drive) but produced good numbers of fish.  The upper Madison has also been fishing really well, with several super fat Lake run browns and rainbows heading up stream.  Other than the salmonfly hatch (typically from mid-late June) this is the best time to catch a big fish on the Upper Madison.  Streamers and nymphs have been the main tactics… a raft is also a good idea to bring along since the flows on the Upper have been quite low, making Varney down somewhat difficult to maneuver in a hard boat.  Think bigger tippet than usual, we heard of several 20+ inch fish breaking off the last few days…