Upper Madison River

The third Saturday of May — opening day since the mid-1990’s for the Madison River from Quake Lake to McAtee Bridge — has become a traditional father/son fly fishing outing for “Grandpa” John, 86, and Dan Delekta, 51. The duo had a perfect Saturday, fishing Delektable™ Hurless Stones in Olive and Gray. Also, one of Dan’s new stonefly patterns, a prototype for 2010, was working; love that R&D! They floated an 8-mile stretch with a blend of wading and float fishing. The boys hooked and landed almost 30 Madison River fish.

FISHING REPORT FOR EARLY MAY 2009

CFS: Stable at 1230 Upper Madison River

Fish seem to be a little confused with the weather (like the rest of us) and fishing reports have been sporadic; they are eating but making us work a little harder for it. The ‘ol Big Bug/Small Bug nymphing combo has been the best method from most of the reports and when I say small, I mean small. Mayfly nymphs #’s16-20 and midge larvae or emergers (like the Delektable™ Twinkle) #’s 18-22 trailing under a # 4-8 stonefly nymph has been the best bet. An Olive or Grey #6 Delektable Hurless with a #18 beadhead Pheasant Tail has been one of the few consistently good setups. With the thermometer reading below 32 most nights still, low early morning water temps. have resulted in slower mornings. Warmer, overcast, afternoons have seen the fish activity picking up from 1- 5 p.m., the late afternoon clouds have resulted in good hatches of baetis everywhere from Town to MacAtee, BWO’s have been spotted on the Beartooth porch and caddis have been seen from Town to 8-mile and are moving upriver every day. If the standard nymph rigs aren’t working, try tight-lining a #2 Zonker to a #16-#18 Delektable Spanker in Silver, Pheasant Tail, or Blue for the mayflies, and a #14 Green Spanker for the caddis.

Lower temps have led to increased visibility on the Yellowstone and better reports from the Big Hole, with a noticeable decrease in pressure on the Upper Madison as a result. However, we are starting to see more and more wade-fisherman between Town and Varney –boat fisherman should remember that these fishermen have the right of way. Please do your best to leave other fisherman’s holes alone. A little bit of etiquette goes a long way on an increasingly pressured river.

More difficult fishing has made me change tactics with good results. Increased leader and dropper length has made a big difference in the last ten days. If the average 7-9 foot leader isn’t working, try going to a 10-12 foot leader with 18-28 inches between your first and second bug. This is using tippets from 2X-4X. It’s a little harder to manage, especially in the wind, but it has seemed to increase the number of fish in the boat. The trick with long leaders is picking up less line before re-casting and making less false casts. If you are used to picking up 15 feet of floating line and making three false casts, try picking up ten feet of line and making one false cast, this will reduce the chance of tangles with the added leader length.

GO FISHING, Charles P.

Other Suggested Patterns:

• # 4-8 Delektable Braided Stonefly Nymph Brown/Tan
• # 4-10 Pat’s Rubber Legs in Brown and Black
• # 4-6 Kaufmann Double Bead Stonefly Nymph in Grey and Olive
• # 4-6 Red and Orange Delektable Worm.
• # 14-18 Lightning Bug
• # 12-16 Hares Ear
• # 16 One Man Party

Don’t Forget! The Upper Madison will be closed from Quake to McAtee from March 1 until the third Saturday in May. This is your last week in 2009 to experience some really sweet winter catch and release fishing on that stretch. Our shop is open during winter hours Monday through Saturday and sometimes Sunday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. Dan will be tying flies on Satuday February 28th at Troutfitters in Bozeman starting at noon.

Once again our buddy Roger enjoyed supplying this new fishing report. Dan, Nancy, and Jenn are busy in the shop building rods and working on the shopping cart.

Today was Chinook like weather: mid 40’s; sunny; and almost Spring like with hardly any wind. Afternoon fishing in Montana with warm temperatures in mid-February is always special. Catching trout was excellent, so it turned out to be an exceptional day of fishing. Walking downstream I was using one of my favorite 2 nymph rig combinations: a #8 Delektable Mega Prince, Olive, on top with a #14 Tungsten Epoxyback Pheasant tail as a dropper. The fish were hungry, including nice Trout and huge Whitefish, with every cast producing. It seemed like the Bows were taking the larger nymph, while the Browns and Whitefish were taking the dropper. Dan gave me a lesson earlier today on double hauling and mending while testing some of the newly built Beartooth Custom rods. This gave me some new confidence to experiment with my casting and try dry flies. Besides, I had already caught plenty on nymphs and sited Midges hatching on the surface but no noses in site. Working back to the car and casting upstream, with the beautiful weather, I started to cast dry flies. Using Illusion Fluorocarbon 4X and 5X, along with a size #12 Parachute Adams up front as an indicator, trailed by a size #20 Midge emerger, I came up with 2 16" and 17" Rainbows. Both took the Midge fly in the skinny ripple water. This was a great surprise as the sun was setting on a wonderful day.

February 5, 2009

We returned from Andros and found we missed some really great fishing on the Upper Madison during January and now. Keep in mind folks, the Upper Madison will be closed from Quake to McAtee from March 1 until the third Saturday in May. This is your opportunity to experience some really sweet winter catch and release fishing. Our shop is open during winter hours Monday through Saturday and sometimes Sunday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. Our buddy Roger supplied this report happily.

The conditions were overcast, warm for Montana winter around 41 degrees and windy. He experienced a hatch of midges around 3:00 to 4:30. The fish were not feeding on the surface. He would have tried dries but it was too windy. Stream flows remain about the same at around 826 cfs at Kirby. Upper Madison River

It was a great day catching plenty of nice trout and his first winter whitefish. He was fishing bucket water casting 35-40 feet of line out with a two nymph rig and indicator and no additional weights. The takes were more at the bottom of the bucket in the riffle at the 3/4 swing of the flies.

The flies he used included: Morrish’s WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction) in Claret #8; Delektable Mega Prince Olive Flashback #6; Epoxyback Tungsten Copper-Copper #14. The best fish was a 191/2" Brown Trout, guides would say with shoulders. He caught a monster Whitefish. The browns were taking the small trailer fly and the Rainbows were predominantly taking the larger Delektable Fly. Most of the Rainbows were between 16-18 inches and great fighters.

Yes indeed, it has been a while since our last fishing report. Our apologies to all who were waiting. We have been so busy with shop projects, it has been a challenge getting out on the river. Our biggest shop project was to launch our Online store, yeah! We are open! To shop, click on the Online Store Tab. Yesterday, our buddy, Roger, who has been hanging out with us had a memorable day on the Upper Madison that was something to share. We did wine a bit because we remained in the shop slaving away.Stream flows remain consistent at around 760 cfs at Kirby. Upper Madison River

It was a warm December afternoon 30-40 degrees, no wind, sunshine, and simply beautiful with the two ranges of snow covered peaks in the background. This was one of those special days we hope to take advantage of when they come in the winter months. Truly a good day to go out fishing! The fish were hungry. Most of the action was between 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. He caught about a dozen fish in the 18" to 22" range, mostly fat browns and rainbows; all having shoulders (really healthy and chunky). Roger used the standard two nymph rig with an indicator and the trailer tied about 18 inches from the lead fly.

The hottest fly combination was the Delektable™ Gray Hurless Flashback #8 with a Delektable Lil’ Spanker Purple #16 as the trailer. The Delektable Hurless scored the most trout. Other recommended winter flies include: All Delektables for the top fly; #8 Mega Prince; #8 Purple Hurless; #8 Olive Hurless; #8 Braided Brownstone; all with or without flashback wingcase. Bottom Delektable flies for the two fly rig: Lil’ Spankers in Purple, Pheasantail, Silver, Red, and Olive in sizes #10, #14, #16, and #18; CDC Prince Nymph #10, #12, and #14; Mr Rubberlegs Pheasantail #10, #12, and #14; Twinkle Midges Black, Red, Rootbeer, and White #18, and #20. Also, we love to fish two big stone nymphs in size #8 together; Delektable Mega Prince; Hurless Stones; and Braided Brownstones. We do have a cold snap coming in. Get your shopping done so you can get out and fish later in the week when it warms up again. Call the shop if you need a report as of the moment at 406-682-7525.

Have a Great Holiday Everyone and Thank You for all the support!

Dan Marty Nancy Brad

• Quoted from PPL’s site: PPL Montana "The dam remains safe and stable, according to on-site monitoring equipment, and the river banks are containing the water flow.
• A plan to install a specially fabricated steel bulkhead to reduce the flow was halted over the weekend after water pressure and turbulence from the flowing water made it impossible to install guides that would have held the bulkhead in place."
• PPL engineers are researching other options at this time.
• September 8, 2008 8:00 AM

Streamers are working in the Big Water

Twenty one inch Brown caught between Mac and Varney

on a Bern’s Bad Boy, by artist Bern Sundell ,