Madison River Fly Fishing Report 7/6/2016
Upper Madison
What a great week of fishing! The Upper Madison has seen hatches of Salmonflies, Goldens, Sallies, Caddis, and plenty of others to keep the fish (and us) busy. Flows have come up significantly the past week, currently coming out of Hebgen at 1,100cfs. This has cooled the river a bit and pushed a lot of nice fish close to the banks. For dries, our top patterns have been the #10 Salmonfly Low-Rider, #12 Lime Trude, #16-18 Purple Parachute, #16 Missing Link, and #16 DOA Cripple. Fish hard, cover a lot of water- including the mid-river slicks, and you'll find eager fish.
The nymph fishing has been absolutely red hot with the cooler and higher water flows. They are all over the river; banks, mid-river slicks, heavy rolling water, so don't just stick to the obvious spots. Guide favorites are the #16 Lake Prince, #18 Black Lightning Bug, #16 Hares Ear Soft Hackle, #16 Guide Dip, and #14-18 Shop Vacs.
Gallatin
Execpt a little rain coming out the Taylor Fork with the afternoons' rain showers, but it should flush through relatively quickly. You can certainly find a few excitable fish still looking for stoneflies, but you're best fishing will be with Caddis, PMD's, and stimulators. The feeder creeks have been looking good. Once again, they may be a little dirty tomorrow, but getting to be that time of year to start hiking up a few.
YNP
NE Corner
Starting to heat up as flows are coming down, water temps have been in the upper 50's. A really fun time of year to look for Drakes, PMDs, Baetis, and Stones. A few favorite flies for the Cutthroat streams are the #16 Hazy Purple Cripple, #14-18 Para-Wulff, #16 Rusty Spinner, #10 Golden Razorback, and #12 Drake Missing Link. Especially with Slough and the Lamar, a longer hike is always worthwhile.
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Jake Schilling
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