After the salmon flies and golden stones have passed on the upper Madison river south of Ennis Montana, we see a stone hatch without bugs. The shucks are all over the rocks but there are none to be found in the air, on the water or in the bushes. These golden stones hatch at night and usually come off thickest around the full moon in July and August. They are very active in the mornings, the evenings and throughout the night. Rolling over rocks reveals the adults hiding from the sun. Once exposed they race to the nearest rock in search of shade and they are fast. Starting early in the morning with dry flies can be a lot of fun. Before the sun breaches the mountain tops and the shadows leave the water, the fish seem to be poised in the shallows waiting for a stone or a Chernobyl ant to skitter by. This is a great hatch and usually gives us a bit of big dry fly action between the giant stone hatch and hopper season. The Madison, Yellowstone and Jefferson all have the midnight stone hatch which makes early floats this time of year a great way to beat the heat and the crowds and catch some big fish.
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The salmon flies and golden stones have long since moved through the upper Madison river and the weather around here has become downright hot. Warm afternoons have made early starts the key to having a great day of fishing on the Madison. Streamer fishing has been really good for the past couple of weeks and if you are willing to hit the river early there are a lot of lunkers out there to be had. We are about a week into our nocturnal stonefly hatch and the fish seem to be really active during the low light in the morning. These stones hatch at night and hide in the shade beneath rocks and cut banks during the day. The fish see a lot of them in the early and late hours when they are active. Hopper season is just around the corner but for now we're really enjoying seeing a lot of big fish get caught on a daily basis.
The salmon fly hatch is still going on the upper Madison river south of Ennis. The bugs are moving up river but we still have about a week of this hatch left to come. We did very well floating down from Palisades fishing access to McAtee bridge yesterday evening. The best fishing is often early or late but the flies are out all afternoon and dry fly action can be had all day. Golden stones and yellow sallies are following the salmon flies up river. There are plenty of caddis on all of the stretches of the Madison. The nymph fishing has been great all over the upper Madison. If you are all about numbers you can catch about as many as you want on nymph rigs right now. As the giant stones fade, we should continue to see good dry fly fishing on the smaller dries like caddis and yellow sallies and the nymph fishing usually will be great throughout July.
When you are on the river all day it is important to protect yourself from the sun... Just don't let it wreck the photo of your lunker...and if your guide is holding the fish don't be afraid to say "Hey, rub that in you look like a clown!"
We can get some wild weather swings in a day of fishing here on the Madison. Afternoon thunderstorms can rip across the valley and hammer the Madison range with rain and lightning. We can usually see them coming and they usually pass quickly... and they are pretty darn beautiful when you're not in them.
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April 2019
AuthorCaptain Garrett Blackburn - Outfitter and guide on the rivers of southwest Montana. Categories
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