We are still seeing some really solid fishing here on the Madison.  It seems that everyone is concerned about warm low water and river closures around Montana.  The Madison River water temperatures have been dropping to around 60 degrees at night and rising up to around 70 degrees by the heat of the afternoon.  That puts our morning and mid day water temperatures in a range that is pretty good for trout.  Late afternoons are not an ideal time to be on the river but getting a bit of an early start is always a good choice this time of year.  We are seeing good fishing on dries, nymphs and streamers on any given day.  There are still plenty of stone flies around in the form of nocturnal stones.  The nocturnal stones, caddis and PMDs are our most abundant hatches right now.  That makes for plenty of bugs to keep fish looking up for al least part of the day.

We don't have any river closures or restrictions on the upper Madison River south of Ennis and it looks like we have plenty of water to keep that from happening.  Currently Hebgen lake is 95% full so there is plenty of water to last through the remainder of summer.  I am feeling pretty lucky to be fishing a river with such good water and fishing conditions when many of the fisheries around the state are suffering from really low and warm water conditions.  With more limited good fishing options in the area there are a few more people around but getting out early and picking less pressured sections of river can keep you out of the crowds.  

Check out the video below that was shot by guests during their Madison valley fishing vacation.  It includes footage from a really fun day in the boat on the Madison River.  We had 3 generations of anglers in the boat that day and caught a bunch of fish.

Salmon flies are long gone but the upper Madison river south of Ennis Montana is still fishing really well.  We have even had some cooler days and much cooler nights to keep the water from getting to hot for trout comfort.  Just a few days ago we had a fresh layer of snow in the mountains. The weather has been cool enough that later morning starts have produced better fishing than our typical early July fishing days.  The water is plenty cool and there are still lots of bugs around.  PMDs, caddis and some stone flies are all still abundant and the trout are still eating really well.  Numbers are good, dry fly fishing has been good on the cloudy days and there are plenty of big fish coming to the net.  

People have been asking about river closures.  The hot weather in late June and early July produced "Hoot Owl" (2pm-midnight) closures on some sections of our local rivers like the lower Ruby, the lower Gallatin, the Jefferson and sections of the Big Hole river.  The Lower Madison river was among the restricted rivers.  However, this section of the Madison river is below Ennis Lake and is not part of our normal summer program due to its warmer water temperatures.  The upper Madison river south of Ennis is what most people are fishing and floating during the summer.  This upper section of the Madison above Ennis lake should not see any closures as it is fed by cooler water from Hebgan lake.  Cool water temperatures have kept it fishing really well since mid June.  Conditions look good and we should have plenty more good fishing to come!