Madison River Outfitters Fishing Report 7/28/20
Montana
Upper Madison: Terrestrial time is once again upon us and is off to a hot start. If this August hopper bite can be anything close to what it was last year we will be in for a treat. Many of our guides have been fishing a hopper with a smaller Yellow Sally off the back and having good success with both. Caddis will still be productive, though that bite has primarily moved to the evening. Nymphing remains consistent with Red-necks, Dips and your other usual suspects in size #14-18.
Flies: #12 Tan and Pink Chili Dogs, #14-18 X-Caddis, #14 Full-Tilt Sally, #16 Front-end Loader, #12-16 Royal Wulff, #14-16 Parawullf, #16-18 Krystal Dip, #14-16 Green Machine, #14-18 Red Neck, #16 Olive Hot Spot Perdigon, #16 HoloPoint, #16-18 Shop Vac, #16-18 Olive S.H. Hare’s Ear, #16 Shop Vac
Hebgen: There have been plenty of callibaetis coming off almost every morning and while the fish seem to be feeding on them a little more consistently now, there are still days where rises have been really spotty and random, making it hard to target fish. If you struggle to find fish working, the nymph bite with a suspended Turkey Callibaetis has been quite good of late.
Flies: #14-16 Turkey Callibaetis, #14-16 Flashback PT, #16 Parachute Callibaetis, #16 Callibaetis Cripple, #16 Callibaetis Spinner, #14-16 Parachute Adams
Gallatin: Caddis and a few lingering Green Drakes should provide some good dry fly activity here most days. If that is not the case, attractors have been fishing really well and hoppers and ants will even probably start to take a few fish as well. Although we haven’t heard any reports of spruce moths quite yet, they should be showing up in the canyon in the very near future so keep your eyes open for that. The Taylor Fork can be a really solid option this time of year as well using attractors and terrestrials.
Flies: #16-18 X-Caddis, #12 Tan and Pink Chili Dogs, #16 Parachute PMD, #12-16 Royal Wulff, #14-16 Parawullf, #12-14 Lime Trude
Yellowstone National Park
Slough/Soda Butte/Lamar: PMDs have been prevalent and are the primary hatch that will have fish rising on these rivers. Terrestrials have been working very well also, so make sure to have your hoppers, ants and beetles in your box.
Flies: #12 Tan and Pink Chili Dogs, #14-16 Arrick’s Ant, #16 Parachute PMD, #16 Hairwing PMD, #16-18 PMD Sprout, #16-18 X-Caddis, #14 Royal Trude
Yellowstone above the Falls: The water is still high but it’s on the way down. Look for hatches of drakes and PMDs on any given day. You should definitely have Chubbies and a variety of spinner patterns as well. You can always drop a tungsten head nymph off a chubby if you find a fish that isn’t willing to come up otherwise.
Flies: #12 Perrin’s Green Drake, #12 Green Drake Missing Link, #12 Green Drake Sprout, #16 Parachute PMD, #16 Hairwing PMD, #16-18 PMD Sprout, #16-18 X-Caddis, #12-18 Rusty Spinner
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Tom Forsberg
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