We are starting to see more and more grass hoppers along the banks of the upper Madison river.  So far there are already more than I saw all of last year.  The fish are not really keyed in on them yet but as they see more hoppers in the water, the dry fly bite should get better.  For now, fishing has been pretty good on the Madison with streamers.  Most days we have been able to put a bunch of nice browns and bows in the boat.  The flows are great and having plenty of water in the Madison seems to have kept the fish from getting too shy to eat meat even in the sun.  The Yellowstone has been at a nice flow for awhile and should just get better and better on nocturnal stonefly and hopper patterns but with the Madison fishing well and not crowded it has been hard to leave. With good water levels on all of our rivers the crowds are spread out. Even a late start on the Madison near Ennis has not been a recipe for getting caught in a boat hatch.  In fact I have been hearing a lot of people say "I thought we would see more people than this...".

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.

Here in Ennis Montana, runoff on a year with 100+ percent of normal snow fall creates the worst fishing conditions of the year on the upper Madison river.  However, you can always find somewhere good to fish.  The upper stretch of the Madison between Hebgan and Quake lakes can be about as good as it gets this time of year.  The runoff usually comes shortly after the upper Madison river opener on the third Saturday in May.  Consequently the fish are about as dumb as they will be all year on the upper river.  We also have a few tail waters in the area that never get too dirty to fish.  The Land of the Giants section of the Missouri River is at its best in the spring when many other Montana rivers like the Yellowstone or Jefferson are a waste of time.  We spent a lot of days this spring over on this section of the Missouri and found a ton of trophy trout.  If you are planning a spring trip and are afraid of runoff keep in mind that we can always find somewhere good to fish, we may just have to drive a little farther.

After our dreams come true and we get a massive snowpack like we had this winter, we usually have to suffer through some extremely high and dirty water well into June.  We had a good 2 weeks of really muddy conditions here on the upper Madison upstream from Ennis.  However the upper reaches near quake lake still remained relatively fishable and we were still able to catch a few on the lower Madison below Ennis lake through the peak of the snow melt.  We got this brown during the worst of it. As for a long runoff, we have had such a dry couple of months it is barely mid June and it looks like the dirty water may be gone for good.  The Yellowstone is dropping hard, the upper Madison looks downright green and the lower Madison has had good clarity for a week.  Both the upper and lower Madison are fishing really well and all of the people who should be here hauling them in seem to have pushed their plans back. It is a pretty good time to come to Ennis, find some great Madison river fishing and have it all to your self.  It is only going to get better from here on.