Madison River Fly Fishing Report 6/13/2016
Montana
Upper Madison
Hebgen Dam- 650cfs
Kirby- 1,150cfs
After a week of hot weather, both Cabin and Beaver Creeks blew out for a few days, dirtying Quake Lake and the Madison below. That being said, the water below Quake down to the West Fork has been nymphing excellent, with pockets of good dry-fly activity. As I've mentioned the past few weeks fish have been spreading out pretty well. With some relatively dirty water coming out of Quake this week, expect a few more to hang right on the bank.
Below the West Fork, fishing has been good, just a little more inconsistent. On the warmer days when the water temps got up to 60, it was pretty smoking good. Yesterday the water was a little cooler, and so was the fishing. The majority of fish below the West Fork are right on the banks, get your fly of choice close, and keep it close.
For nymphs, not much has changed; #14-18 Frenchie, #16 Olive Shop Vac, #16 Ram Caddis, #10 Biot Stone, #8-10 Sili Leg, and the always spring-reliable #16 Olive Hare's Ear. As for fishing topwater, have a decent selection to choose from, they'll eat some crazy flies for still being 2-3 weeks away from the start of consistent dry fishing. Stop by or tie up a few #16 Hazy Crippple, #14-18 Purple Parachute, #12 Chubby Chernobyl, #16-18 Sprout, and #14-16 Missing Link.
Upper Gallatin
Still pretty dirty coming out of the Park, including Fan Creek. But, overall the river has dropped significantly at the USGS site in Gateway, from over 4,000cfs to under 2,500cfs in three days. When the Gallatin is dropping like this, it can be a excellent time to find a few Big Browns chasing streamers. Definitely would recommend fishing the bank pockets or swinging any manageable run with an Olive Slap-N-Tickle, Double Bunny, or Sculpin Leech.
Yellowstone Nat'l Park
Firehole/Madison
Cold nights and chilly mornings pushed the hatches back a little, but we're all excited to see overcast weather in the forecast. More and more Caddis starting to show up, the #18 Cinnamon CDC has been a favorite as well as the #18 Midge-Caddis. If you see fish actively chasing the Miller Moths, grab a #14 White Spruce or #16 Elk Hair and play around with your presentation until they give in. Some days a dead drift is needed for the moth, other days the fish are chasing more skated or swung presentations.
You can certainly still find a few fish eating Stoneflies around the Junction and up the Firehole Canyon. If you haven't fished the #8 Low-Rider Salmonfly, it's a new one for us and it's been finding some good fish.
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Jake Schilling
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