It is already happening on the big hole river and rock creek. It is one of the most sought after hatches and among the hardest to hit. People spend years trying to catch a good day of salmon fly fishing. Hitting it right means seeing Montana trout rise to eat a size 4 dry fly, which is one of the coolest things in fly fishing. Aquatic insect emergences are primarily a function of water temperature. If you want to hit the hatch look at the snowpack and the weather. They are probably going to start hatching when the water temperatures have been in the mid fifties for a sustained period. On the Madison this will usually happen around the third or fourth week of June. However, even if you come out during the hatch some days will be better than others. If you put in a little time you are likely to find some pretty awesome dry fly action and some great nymphing in between. Check out the usgs stream flow site for a graph of Madison river water temps. www.waterdata.usgs.gov/mt/nwis.
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