Fly Fishing the Madison River for the First Time

We have had some real fun the last few days with some fly fishers who were fly fishing the Madison River for the first time. The first was Hermon Bain, the superb Bahamian guide and owner of Hermon’s Andros Island Bonefishing. Anyone who wants a great experience bonefishing will not go wrong by lining up Hermon.

Hermon had a great time dry fly fishing with the Big Bugs and caught a nice brown on a little fly–a #14 Rusty Spinner. He missed a great salmonfly take, but sure got a great charge out of it. He won’t soon forget it.

Next were my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Gloria and Mike Ogden, from Houston, Texas. On Gloria’s first day out, she caught an 18" Brown Trout on a Red Wire Worm–the first fish she ever caught on a fly rod. Her husband’s fish, caught on a #16 Delektable Pheasant Tail Spanker: Delektable Flies Gallery wasn’t quite that large. It was his second day fly fishing.

Brad

Fly Fishing the Madison River for the First Time

We have had some real fun the last few days with some fly fishers who were fly fishing the Madison River for the first time. The first was Hermon Bain, the superb Bahamian guide and owner of Hermon’s Andros Island Bonefishing. Anyone who wants a great experience bonefishing will not go wrong by lining up Hermon.

Hermon had a great time dry fly fishing with the Big Bugs and caught a nice brown on a little fly–a #14 Rusty Spinner. He missed a great salmonfly take, but sure got a great charge out of it. He won’t soon forget it.

Next were my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Gloria and Mike Ogden, from Houston, Texas. On Gloria’s first day out, she caught an 18" Brown Trout on a Red Wire Worm–the first fish she ever caught on a fly rod. Her husband’s fish, caught on a #16 Delektable Pheasant Tail Spanker: Delektable Flies Gallery wasn’t quite that large. It was his second day fly fishing.

Brad

Great Times with Dad!

What fun it was to get out dodge for a few hours on Sunday and go fishing with my father on beautiful Madison! We didn’t get into the water until about 3:00pm and I was rowing for the first time (in a pontoon boat) and managed to survive with the only incident being that I lost an oar and had to chase it with my boat using one oar for about a mile until it finally snagged and I could retrieve it. What fun! I was really amazed with how far I could go down the river with one oar, still knowing that at some point I wouldn’t be so lucky anymore if I didn’t retrieve the other oar soon.

For old time’s sake I fished all dries with my dad and we did ok for a couple of rusty fisherman who hadn’t fished the river in around five years. Just goes to show what a busy schedule will do even if you live in fishing paradise. The fly’s that worked for us were a #16 Delektable Twisted Baby in Olive/Gold, # 16 sized yellow stone fly pattern (with yellow legs), # 16 olive caddis and a # 16 peacock hurl bodied stimulator. The fish would only take the smallest patterns we had and were very eager as long as they were small bugs.

I know it will be a day to remember for my dad and I both.

Jenn

Great Times with Dad!

What fun it was to get out dodge for a few hours on Sunday and go fishing with my father on beautiful Madison! We didn’t get into the water until about 3:00pm and I was rowing for the first time (in a pontoon boat) and managed to survive with the only incident being that I lost an oar and had to chase it with my boat using one oar for about a mile until it finally snagged and I could retrieve it. What fun! I was really amazed with how far I could go down the river with one oar, still knowing that at some point I wouldn’t be so lucky anymore if I didn’t retrieve the other oar soon.

For old time’s sake I fished all dries with my dad and we did ok for a couple of rusty fisherman who hadn’t fished the river in around five years. Just goes to show what a busy schedule will do even if you live in fishing paradise. The fly’s that worked for us were a #16 Delektable Twisted Baby in Olive/Gold, # 16 sized yellow stone fly pattern (with yellow legs), # 16 olive caddis and a # 16 peacock hurl bodied stimulator. The fish would only take the smallest patterns we had and were very eager as long as they were small bugs.

I know it will be a day to remember for my dad and I both.

Jenn

Palisades day use area is open. The camping area will remain closed for one to two weeks while the work is being completed.

June 30, 2010

Palisades will be closed on Weekdays until road work is completed!!

Unfortunately, the road workers experienced too many conflicts with the traffic going in and out of the day use area. Palisades will be closed on weekdays effective immediately until the project is completed. Please plan your float and fishing locations accordingly. The day use area will be open on weekends only. We will post a notice when the status changes.

June 27, 2010

My girlfriend Jeanne Williams, owner of the Rainbow Valley Lodge and I had a great day off with Gunnar Folsom as our guide. Our days off are few and far between so we really make the most of them. The weather was sunny, warm, and light on the "W" factor. The river was pretty clean in most places. We did see some light dirt kicking in at Ruby and at Indian Creek but it was so light, you could see through it. The water temps were pretty cool. The fish bite was never consistent but there were some really nice trout to be caught. If you were on the river that Sunday, you would have certainly heard us. Both of us like to scream and giggle when we get a fish bite and we talk to the fish. When we land a nice one, watch out and plug your ears! There were some very gracious folks along the river who survived our screams, thank you.

We did not see any of the Big Bugs on our float from Windy to Storey. One day later one or two were spotted in that stretch but nothing to announce yet. We saw Caddis in different sizes, and Yellow Sallies in various sizes.

The bugs that worked included an assortment but no one fly worked for a long period of time. The twigs and branches on the bottom took some of our bugs. We learned quickly to pull up the flies and not leave them in too long to get snagged. The Delektable™ Hurless in Gray #6 or #8 was possibly my best bug. The other bugs that worked for a short time were the Pat’s Rubberleg in Brown #6, Delektable Stoners in Black/Orange and Brown #6, Delektable EH Twisted Wire in Red and Green #14, Delektable Lil’ Spanker in Red and Green #14 as a trailer to the big bug, a couple different Caddis emergers, the Delektable Badger Screamer caught my nicest trout, and a brief dry experience with two bites on the Delektable Royal Teaser behind a Twisted "X". I tried some Salmon flies with a dropper and no reply. The Whitefish really wanted the Prince Nymph..

You can see we caught some really nice trout. There was a quiet spell in the afternoon and we have heard mixed reports of others having that quiet spell at different times, some later, some earlier. There was no steady pattern. We really had a great time and hope to get out again soon, maybe in a month or two. FYI, as of the writing, the dirt is gone. Thanks Gunnar for taking good care of us. Thanks to Ed and Dan for covering for us back at the shops.

Nancy