Spring fishing conditions are in full force on the Madison River.  The ice has broken up and the river is fishing well.  This time of year can produce some of the best fishing days that we see all year. The fish are hungry hand have more or less been left alone all winter. You can still see the remnants of the brutally cold winter that southwest Montana saw this year when you float past 6 foot tall walls of Ice on some of the Madison River banks.  Nevertheless, the water is warming up, the fish are looking healthy and feeding well. Fly fishing on the Madison has been good for nymphing and occasional action on dries and streamers. Most of the fish are still holding in the deeper slower runs but they are getting much more aggressive about eating a fly.

Lately some people have expressed concerns about run off and when to book their Madison River fishing trip.  We did have an exceptionally cold and snowy winter.  However,  It does not look like our spring runoff is likely to be that far off of what we normally see.  The snowpack in the Madison drainage is currently at 118% which great for summer fishing conditions but not necessarily anything that would cause me to think that the timing of our runoff conditions will be much different than any other year.  Late May and early June are normally when we get high dirty water from runoff on the Madison River.  We can always find somewhere to get into fish on the Madison but that is also a great time to fish the Missouri River below one of the dams.  By June 15th-20th we are normally looking for salmon flies on the Madison River.

The Madison River produced great fishing for fly anglers this past season.  If you ask most of The Madison River Guides in Ennis, Montana what they thought of the fishing, you would probably hear that it was the best dry fly/hopper seasons in years.  The fish seemed to be looking up exceptionally well this season.  On top of that, we saw more grasshoppers along The Madison River than I have seen in 10 years.  This was especially welcome after years of apparently declining grass hopper densities along the banks of the Madison River.

In 2018, we finally saw the completion of the Hebgen Dam repair project that was underway since the dam's failure on August 30th, 2008.  On that day, one of the four hydraulic gates on the dam failed sending nearly four times the normal outflow down the Madison River.  The flow was restrained after roughly a month of high water but the dam was still damaged.  During much of the subsequent repair period, the Madison River outflow from Hebgen dam came from the top of the lake over the spillway rather than middle of the lake.  The result was higher than average water temperatures on the Madison River and the necessity for spiking flows out of the dam to cool the river during hot summer months.  

While the river produced higher numbers of trout than ever, most Madison River fly fishing guides noted a decline in the quality of our dry fly fishing.  The warmer water and less consistent summer flows seemed to have changed the aquatic insect hatches and make the fish more interested in feeding subsurface.  Indeed, in 2018 when the Madison River finally received the cooler mid release water from below Hebgen Dam, the fish seemed to respond by rising to a dry fly.  Flows were more stable, the water cooler, the grass hoppers more prolific and  the combination produced one of the best dry fly seasons I have seen on the Madison.  The best part is that now that the dam is repaired, we can probably expect more great summer dry fly fishing this season!

The Madison River drainage, like most of western Montana, had a winter snowpack that was far above normal.  As Montana fly fishermen, we are always hoping for as much snow and water as possible.  It helps the rivers fish well through the summer and fall months and reduces stress on trout during the hottest parts of the summer.  This year we got an impressive amount of snow in the mountains and have experienced abnormally high water conditions throughout spring.  Overall, we have found really good fishing.

The upper walk/wade sections of the Madison River have been steadily producing great fishing.  We have been able to float near Ennis and fish from the boat during gaps in the snowmelt but overall wading has been the best way to catch fish on the Madison.  Nymphing has been most productive but dry fly and streamer fishing have been good options at times.  

This spring has served as a great example of how well the Madison River can fish under even the highest water conditions.  On plenty of occasions the higher water levels seemed to make our fishing better.  Now that flows seem to have peaked, we are looking forward to plenty of cool water for the summer and the Madison river salmon fly hatch bering just around the corner.  

After one of the hottest and driest summers we have seen in Montana, cooler and wetter weather in mid September was welcome.  On Labor Day Weekend the afternoon high on the Madison River reached 97 degrees.  Only 10 days later we were dealing with cold, rain and wind on the Madison and fresh snow in the mountains.  Hot mid summer days are not always best for targeting large but September and October always offer some cooler, darker days to get the big fish moving.  September was our best month for the larger browns on the Madison River this year.  The last 2 weeks of September produced some real trophies.  The first run of darker skies and stormy conditions after the heat of August always seems to get the bigger browns feeding. We see fish in September and October that did not seem to be there in August. September and October are out favorite times to target larger fish on the Madison River.  Those fall fish are fat in in preparation for the spawn and late season often produces the biggest fish that I see all year.

We are still seeing some great fishing on the upper Madison river.  The stonefly hatch has come and gone and most of the crowds seem to have gone with it.   The weather on the Madison river has been really hot so early starts have been the norm lately.  The fishing holds up well until around 2 in the afternoon when the air temps start to get into the high 80s.  We are looking at a streak of cooler weather and that should really improve the late afternoon bite.  Hopper fishing is just starting.  Our summertime nocturnal stonefly hatch has been going on for awhile now so the dry fly fishing has been really good some days. 

We are looking forward to some great mid summer fishing with above average water conditions.  Hopefully we will have a great hopper season!