Madison River Fishing Report - Fall and winter
How’s the fishing been on the Madison river and other rivers of southwest Montana this winter? Frozen. This year’s winter has seemed exceptionally cold relative to the past several southwest Montana winters. We had a beautiful fall with some great fall fishing on the upper Madison river and the Missouri river. Once the crowds left the Madison in October, the fishing turned on in a big way and the river was eerily vacant considering the abnormally warm weather and good bite. Likewise, the Missouri river and Yellowstone Park section of the Madison river were producing good numbers of big trout daily.
Madison River Ice Gorge
Our weather was really nice all the way through November but in December the temperatures plummeted and the Madison quickly filled with ice. Temperatures were exceptionally low even for Montana winter, reaching as far as 30 degrees below zero in mid december. During a cold winter the Madison river experiences a unique ice build up that we call “The Gorge.” The uniquely swift and shallow nature of the Madison river, under freezing conditions, creates large chunks of glacial looking ice that become jammed in shallow areas. This ice jam blocks the river and forces the flow of water and ice upwards, beyond the banks of the Madison into the floodplain where it forms more ice. This sort of ice jam is not unique to the Madison river but the shallow, swift nature of the Madison makes for an impressively large amount of ice that I have never seen on another stream.
On a warm year, the Madison river may see almost no ice gorge. However, exceptionally long periods of cold can cause the ice jam on the Madison to build from Ennis lake (where it usually starts) and extend miles up river far beyond the town of Ennis. The formations are unique and beautiful but have made fishing the Madison river less than appealing to winter anglers. The ice became so thick this December that it was nearly touching the bottom of the Ennis bridge. The flow through the town section was nearly completely blocked forcing the river and gorge to consume the Ennis fishing access. Flows pushed hundreds of yards to the east towards Odell spring creek where it poured over the highway creating a large section of frozen roadway.
The gorge is not likely to affect the fishing for 2017. The ice tends to move around the gravel in lower sections of the Madison, which can create new buckets and features but the fish always seem to find a way to survive...although sometimes I wonder how. After a solid gorge like the one this year, I am looking forward to finding some new features and holes in the lower sections of the upper Madison river in 2017.
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