The net inflow to Hebgen is approximately 10,000 cfs, with the Conservation Pool 87% full. The flow out of Hebgen is 1,774 cfs and has increased steadily over the last three days. The flow near Cameron is 2,430 cfs and rising.

If you don’t already have plans to fish the Upper Madison this summer or fall, make them now. Once this runoff subsides–probably sometime in June– the fly fishing on the Upper Madison is going to be spectacular.

Dan wade fished on Sunday below McAtee, near Palisades, and near the Sun West Ranch–in the very muddy water. He hooked over 20 fish and landed over 10, in about 5 hours of fishing–with only 6 to 8 inches of visibility. They were taking Delektable Flashback Hurless Stones and Mega Princes, #6 and #8′, and that was all they were taking.

Fish real tight to the bank. Dan spooked a bunch of fish wading up the banks, where they were under the banks and they couldn’t be reached with casting. The fish were actually underneath the banks, which is actually very common in these high water conditions. Dan saw some BWOs and March Browns come off, but he didn’t fish any dries.

With Quake Lake being pretty dirty right now, 8 inches of visibility is still plenty from Quake Lake down.

Wade fishing is the way to go now. How many can throw a fly from a boat 4 to 6 inches from the bank–and keep it in there–consistently and accurately? If you’re in a boat, get out to fish this dirt. Fish eat a whole bunch in the dirt. There’s a lot of food coming at them. They’ve been in the winter mode for a long time. They’re hungry. A lot of nutrients are coming at them that they don’t usually see–a lot of worms, with the earthworms being washed from the banks, joining their aquatic cousins–orange, red-banded, brown-banded. It’s a smorgasbord. The stoneflies are active, because they will be hatching pretty soon, so they’re getting dislodged into the current.

So fish the upper Madison from Hebgen to Quake Lake and from Quake Lake to the West Fork, and below. Fish have been eating in dirty water for millions of years. They know how to do it.

Recommended Flies

To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Olive, Gray #6, #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince#6, #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #6,#8; Delektable Worm, Red or Brown #8; Red Wire Worm #6, #8

Delektable Hurless Stone Gray

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Delektable Worm Red

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Worth a Try: Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail or Lil’ Spanker in Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Tungsten Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Dries (possibly) :

Snowshoe Cripple BWO #18; Q’s Loopy Cripple Stacker BWO #18; Snowshoe Baetis #20; Adam’s Midge Cluster #20; Stalcup’s Hatching Midge #20 (Split Wing Adams #12 ) March Brown Parachute #14; Klinkhammer #14

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

May 21, 2008

The Upper Madison from Windy Point down is blown out. The flow near Cameron is 1,940 cfs. The release from Hebgen is stable at 972 and the net inflow to the reservoir is around 1500.

Some hardy souls are floating from Lyons Bridge to Windy Point and fishing the right bank, for the five or six miles before the muddy water from the West Fork discolors the entire river, but Dan did not think that would be worth it, so didn’t take his Dad out on Opening Day–the first Opening Day he has missed in many years. Those who fished on Opening Day above the West Fork had a good day.

It is time to fish the upper Madison from Hebgen to Quake Lake and from Quake Lake to the West Fork. This water will remain fishable regardless of the runoff and even if the release from the dam increases. Quake Lake may become slightly discolored, but not enough to affect the fishing down to the West Fork.

The good news about this rapid melt is that a substantial amount of the snowpack has melted and the chances are good that the fishing will be good by the middle of June. Indian Creek didn’t even start flowing hard until yesterday. It took all those days of heat to get the melt really started and a lot of the lower elevation stuff has come down. The high water is not a problem. The Madison fishes well in conditions of high flow, as long as the clarity is reasonable.

Recommended Flies

To see the Delektables™ go to: Delektable Flies Gallery

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Olive, Gray #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail or Lil’ Spanker in Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Tungsten Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Delektable Hurless Stone Gray:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Dries:

Snowshoe Cripple BWO #18; Q’s Loopy Cripple Stacker BWO #18; Snowshoe Baetis #20; Adam’s Midge Cluster #20; Stalcup’s Hatching Midge #20 (Split Wing Adams #12 ) March Brown Parachute #14; Klinkhammer #14

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Riverborn Fly Company www.riverbornflies.com

Or:

Your favorite big or medium stonefly nymphs, BWO nymphs or dries, midge nymphs or dries, or your favorite streamers.

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

The Upper Madison from Quake Lake to McAtee bridge will open this Saturday. This will be a welcome event for both anglers and fish, especially the fish from Varney down, who have seen an enormous amount of pressure the last several weeks. It would certainly be good if the FWP would leave Lyons to Town open all year. This would have little, if any, effect on the spawning conditions for the Rainbows and would relieve some of the pressure from Varney down during the early Spring–a great time to fish the Upper Madison River.

The flow on the Upper Madison is around 1000 cfs and stable. Water clarity is very good. This should make for excellent conditions for Opening Day. The warm weather predicted for this weekend will probably change that soon, as the high snow begins to melt. As the melt increases and the West Fork discolors the river, the river will still remain clear down to the West Fork.

The vagaries of the lower elevation snow melt have affected the fishing recently. It’s been pretty slow up at the Beartooth Fly Shop, because of the closure of the "Upper Upper". So we have taken advantage of the opportunity to get out and do some fishing, before all the activity of the regular season begins. Sunday (the 4th) Dan, Marty, and Brad took an afternoon float from McAtee to Varney. We had some great action on nymphs–large stoneflies and small Lil’ Spankers and Dan caught one fish on a dead drifted Delektable Christmas Tree streamer. But Dan gave up fishing the streamer after awhile and went back to nymphing. The "Fly of the Day" was a Lil’ Spanker-red-#18.

On Tuesday (the 6th) the boys went out again and had a very slow day. The warm days on Sunday and Monday had increased the melt, put some cold water into the river, decreasing the temperature and slightly increasing the flow, and this made both the insects and the fish lethargic. Starting off, we had absolutely no action on nymphs, so we switched to streamers. We had some slow action on streamers, but got several very nice size fish. We didn’t catch a fish on a nymph until late in the afternoon, when Dan caught a nice brown on one of his Delektables in Development–a brown stonefly pattern, which he had tied that morning and will be available next season. Here it is:

Below Varney it was almost all streamer action, with the Delektable Double Screamer–Olive and Yellow–catching the most fish. There was a moderate baetis and midge hatch late in the afternoon and one fish was caught on the surface on a #20 Adams Cluster. Things had definitely improved by the next day , when Gunnar went from Storey to 8 Mile and his clients boated over 20 fish (from 12" to 20"), on the same Olive and Yellow Delektable Screamers.

Recommended Flies

Delektable Flies can be viewed in the Delektable Flies Gallery under the

Beartooth Products tab

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Gray #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail or Lil’ Spanker in Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14; Tungsten Beadhead Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Dries:

Snowshoe Cripple BWO #18; Q’s Loopy Cripple Stacker BWO #18; Snowshoe Baetis #20; Adam’s Midge Cluster #20; Stalcup’s Hatching Midge #20 (Split Wing Adams #12 ) March Brown Parachute #14; Klinkhammer #14

Streamers:

Delektable Screamer Olive and Yellow, Single and Double, #6:

Fly from Riverborn Fly Company

Or:

Your favorite big or medium stonefly nymphs, BWO nymphs or dries, midge nymphs or dries, or your favorite streamers.

Dan, Marty, Nancy, Brad

This is our first Fishing Report on the web, so I would like to start by talking about the Seasons of the Upper Madison River and then the detailed report for May 4, 2008 will follow. We hope you enjoy our Reports. We aim to be accurate, honest, timely, detailed, and entertaining. We will update the Upper Madison Fishing Report at least weekly.

The Upper Madison River has been my year round fly fishing home for over 25 years. The seasons and rhythms are ingrained into my soul. I would like to break these seasons up into categories for our Fishing Reports. The current season, as of May 4, 2008, is going from Winter conditions into Spring. Our Winter fishing starts in November and can last into April. During the November to April periods, stonefly nymphs in sizes 4 to 10 dominate, medium size nymphs in sizes 10 to 14 work and the ever present midge hatch in sizes 18 and 20—both dry and wet—work.

The Spring season begins with the first big stonefly hatch of the year–the skwalas, which can start at the end of March and last into April. The BWO mayflies and the midges overlap the skwalas and continue into April or the first part of May. The next mayflies to show up are the March Browns, which can start in April and continue into May. Then there is the famous Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch. Good luck finding the 3 to 5 day period that they come off. The Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch can start from the end of April through the second week of May. The Spring time fishing has always been my favorite—the first big hatches start, the weather is getting warmer, and water conditions are stable during March, April, and May.

The next best season for me is June and the first part of July. Stonefly nymphs and dries can dominate in sizes 4 to 12, along with caddis dries and wets in sizes 8 to 16, and mayflies in sizes 12 to 16, depending on water flows and temperatures. Streamers are especially good during high water periods. This is the time of salmonflies, golden stones, caddis—from big to small, and mayflies—from big to medium. This smorgasboard of hatches continues until the middle to end of July, when the PMD mayflies, caddis, and nocturnal stones dominate.

Late summer brings tricos, small caddis, small PMDs, flying ants, and yes, my favorite late summer hatch—the wind blown hoppers.

Fall fishing starts when Mother Nature decides to cool down. September and the Fall BWOs take over. Streamer fishing and BWOs dominate until October turns into Winter.

Then what I like to call the Winter Season starts, from November until April. Stoneflies, nymphs—4 to 12, medium sized nymphs—10 to 14, and midges, wet and dry, dominate.

These seasons are a general outline and are subject to snowpack and weather conditions that change on a moments notice—welcome to Montana. Also, with over 2000 different fly patterns in our shop, we will leave the fly selections to one’s own imagination.

Dan

May 4, 2008 Report:

We like a “Big/Little” rig, with a Delektable™ Hurless, Delektable™ Mega Prince, or a Pat’s Rubberleg, followed by a Delektable™ Twinkle Midge or a Delektable™

Lil’ Spanker. If fish are rising, which is not happening very often, try a midge or baetis cripple or emerger.

Recommended Flies

Delektable Flies can be viewed in the Delektable Flies Gallery under the

Beartooth Products tab

Nymphs:

Delektable™ Hurless Gray #8; Delektable™ Mega Prince #8; Pat’s Rubberleg Brown #8; Delektable™ Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Red, Silver, Olive #18;#16,#14 Beadhead Pheasant Tail Tungsten Soft Hackle #20; Delektable™ Twinkle Midge and Zebra Midge #20,#18; WD40 Olive #20

Dries:

Snowshoe Cripple BWO #18; Q’s Loopy Cripple Stacker BWO #18; Snowshoe Baetis #20; Adam’s Midge Cluster #20; Stalcup’s Hatching Midge #20

Or:

Your favorite big or medium stonefly nymphs, BWO nymphs or dries, midge nymphs or dries, March Brown imitations, or your favorite streamers.