Madison River Outfitters

Entry by Brett Matula

“Home water” is a term every fisherman is familiar with.  For most folks, these easy-to-reach backyard fisheries are lesser-known and lesser-fished than the glamourous rivers splashed across the various forms of angling literature.  A certain degree of intimacy develops from spending time on the same river through the entire coarse of its seasons.  Some fisherman spend their entire lives learning one river, and the intricacies and subtle changes these anglers notice cannot be learned in any less time-consuming way.

I am certainly NOT one of those fisherman.  I’ve had lots of different home water throughout the course of my fishing and guiding career, and that suits me just fine.  I like fishing all kinds of water and I get bored fishing the same river all the time.

I live in the Bitterroot Valley most of the year, and I consider the Bitterroot to be some of the finest home water a guy could have.  I also spent three seasons guiding on the Yellowstone and in the north half of the Park out of Gardiner, and that was certainly a great spot for some world-class backyard trout fishing.  

Here in West Yellowstone, my new home water is obviously the Madison.  I’ve fished the Madison for many years, but certainly don’t have the handle on it that comes with having it out the back door.  In past years, we’d drive over from Gardiner or Missoula and fish it for two or three days, lucking into good fishing sometimes, but just as often striking out and wondering what we’d done wrong.   

The process of learning a new river is one of the most alluring parts of fly fishing for me.  It’s not a short process by any means.  Being observant and listening to guys like Mike, Rick, James, and Mickey will certainly shorten the learning curve.  But the best way to get to know a river is to fish it A LOT.  So as the river continues to come alive this summer, you can be sure I’ll be out there as much as possible.  Hopefully I can help some of you out there shorten your own learning curve when you stop by the shop.