Is it Spring? Summer? Winter? Does it matter? There’s a Bite and the grass is getting greener! Snow is melting and temps are rising. We are seeing the first glimpses of Spring Runoff on the Mighty Madison River. Pre Runoff conditions are some of the best times to target large Fish after a long cold Winter. Many anglers and guides have reported success in fishing through a multitude of techniques.

Anglers Nymphing have reported success fishing buckets with various Stoneflies, Caddis and Baetis Nymphs. Small Streamers, Worms and Eggs have also been working fished under a bobber.

Many throwing Streamers have also found success on a variety of different flies. Crawdad and Sculpin imitations have been the ticket as of late. This time of year is widely regarded as some of the best Streamer fishing we see. Big fish want a big meal! So don’t forget to grab your sink tip and work that water for your next Personal Best! Or try one of Dan’s Beartooth Sinking Leaders with a Dry Fly Line, works great with Streamers and Trailers and no Chucking and Ducking!

Dry or Die folks have had great opportunities to wet the line now that the water temps have warmed. With the Skwala hatch ending in a cold sporadic way, the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch has been prevalent over the last few weeks when the weather conditions cooperated. In the coming weeks expect more scattered Caddis and BWO hatches as runoff starts to kick in. As the river begins to drop and clear we shall see some of the largest Caddis of the year before the Infamous Salmon Fly hatch!

Nymphs: Delektable Gold BH Formerly Mega Prince Std # 6-10, Delektable Gold BH Formerly Hurless Stone Gray #6-10, Delektable Tungsten Gold BH Formerly Prince #16, BH Lightning Bug Pearl. Delektable FB Sparkle Kaboom Stone #6-10, Delektable Kaboom Stone #6-10, Delektable Guidestone Black/Brown #6-10, Delektable Guidestone Black #6-10, Delektable Mega Prince Standard Flashback #6-10, Delektable Mega Prince Olive Flashback #6-10, BH Jig Hook Silver Lightening Bug #14-18, Jig CDC Brown Thrasher #14-16, Jig CDC Olive Thrasher #14-16, Silver BH Black Spanish Bullet #16, Jig Duracell Original #16, Delektable Hurless Nymph Purple #6-10, Delektable Jig Hook Tungsten Micro Spanker Holo Silver #16, Delektable Jig Hook Tungsten Micro Spanker Holo Olive #16, Delektable Jig Hook Tungsten Black Bling #16, BH Gummy Worm Red #12, BH Gummy Worm Pink #12, Wire Worm Orange and Red #8, Wire Worm Wine Red #6-8, Wire Worm Red #6-8, Delektable Worm Red #8-10, Delektable Worm Wine #8-10

Streamers: Sculpzilla Olive #8, Sculpzilla Black #8, Dalai Lama Olive/White #6 & #10, Jr’s Conehead Streamer Natural or Olive #6, Galloup’s Sex Dungeon Olive, Natural or Black #6-#10, Delektable Single Screamer Olive/White, Brown/Yellow, Black or White #6.

Dries: Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis Cinnamon #14, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis Olive #14, Parachute Adams #14-16, Delektable Twisted Baby Tan/Brown #14, Cornfed Caddis CDC Tan #16, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis Holo Olive #14-16, Missing Link Caddis Olive #14, Delektable Lil’ Chubby UV Caddis Green #18, Delektable Lil’ Chubby UV Olive #18.