Montana SnowPack 2016 - Fishing Report
A recent article by the Madisonian news paper in Ennis, Montana, reported near normal and and above normal snowpack for the Madison River drainage and southwest Montana overall. I thought it worth while to take this prompt to break down the current state of our 2016 southwest Montana snowpack and look at how it is likely to impact the 2016 summer Montana and Madison river fly fishing season.
The map below shows that we are currently holding at about 91% of average snowpack Madison River drainage and that the greater part of southwest Montana has accumulated near average snowpack. That is not to say that we have reached 91% of the snow fall that we typically see on an average year. Rather, we are at 91% of what the average snowpack on February 11th looks like. However, we still have several more months that can produce large amounts of snow in the mountains and while it may not snow much in June, it can be one of our biggest months in terms of precipitation, which can have a big impact on spring runoff.
What does this mean for fishing in Montana? It is still too early to tell. The next few months could produce record snowfall, which would likely create a heavy and extended spring runoff. Likewise, if the weather dries up and heats up (like last year) we could still be in for some great spring water conditions for fishing, which would likely be followed by warmer and lower flows in the mid-late summer. For now, we are right around average and thats probably a good thing. On an average year we will have good spring fishing conditions until late May and early June when we experience runoff and then good conditions throughout the rest of the season (as long as it does not get too hot in August). More snow always seems to be better for the rivers and fish. It is much better to have heavy flows and cooler water. This might create a little longer runoff but the rest of the summer will usually fish much better as a result. I will take all the snow that we can get!
The map below shows that we are currently holding at about 91% of average snowpack Madison River drainage and that the greater part of southwest Montana has accumulated near average snowpack. That is not to say that we have reached 91% of the snow fall that we typically see on an average year. Rather, we are at 91% of what the average snowpack on February 11th looks like. However, we still have several more months that can produce large amounts of snow in the mountains and while it may not snow much in June, it can be one of our biggest months in terms of precipitation, which can have a big impact on spring runoff.
What does this mean for fishing in Montana? It is still too early to tell. The next few months could produce record snowfall, which would likely create a heavy and extended spring runoff. Likewise, if the weather dries up and heats up (like last year) we could still be in for some great spring water conditions for fishing, which would likely be followed by warmer and lower flows in the mid-late summer. For now, we are right around average and thats probably a good thing. On an average year we will have good spring fishing conditions until late May and early June when we experience runoff and then good conditions throughout the rest of the season (as long as it does not get too hot in August). More snow always seems to be better for the rivers and fish. It is much better to have heavy flows and cooler water. This might create a little longer runoff but the rest of the summer will usually fish much better as a result. I will take all the snow that we can get!
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