What a giggly action day on the dries!….Dries All Day!

Our shuttle crew turned over some rocks yesterday and this is what they found. Holy Cow! There are Salmon Stones under there ready to pop like crazy. As of June 26th evening, the Adult Big Bugs were spotted in the Upper River and the heaviest between Ruby and Varney.

My girlfriend Jeanne who owns Rainbow Valley Lodge and I were blessed today with the
best day off in a very long time for both of us. People in our jobs don’t get any time off over the next few months, so this was a real treat. We had a dilemma as Jeanne hurt her knee, had knee surgery and is still not fully repaired and in pain. To make it easier for her, I fished with Gunnar the first half and we met her for lunch and Jeanne joined us on the second half. The first part of our float started off slow for maybe a half hour, then the action started. We fished Dan’s Secret Salmon Fly, A Smaller Royal Chubby Chernobyl, A Delektable Twisted Baby #14 Orange, then later in the day we switched to Dan’s Secret Golden Stone and never changed flies after that. We did try one or two caddis patterns that they bit, then quit and changed flies earlier in the day. The fish ate all our flies.

The hatch activity was incredible with Salmon Flies, several different caddis sizes, than more salmons, then Goldenstones, then Yellow Sallies, and more Caddis. The bugs were crawling all over us. Needless to say, we were screaming with laughter from the action and from the bugs tickling us. All the fish we caught were chubby and healthy from eating so many bugs.

Once the action started, it continued most of the day with short lulls. The fish were biting 
in lots of different locations but especially liked the riffles and where there was structure underneath. It was funny because you couldn’t predict it then they would swirl up and nail the fly. We had so much action with bites, misses, takes, lands, and what I call drive bys. You could see the trout under the fly, taking a look and thinking about it but if you pulled up too quick, you missed the opportunity but saw the trout look. The visual fun was really cool because you could see the fish go after it in a big way with some leaping after it.

The best technique was to twitch the fly and tease the fish. They would go after it hard if
twitched. This really worked for Jeanne because she had to keep her leg up and sit. So once she got the fly on the water, she could just dabble the fly and the fish would suck it down.

What a fabulous and giggly fun fishing day with my friend, Jeanne. Thanks Ed and Dan for covering in our absence. Thanks Gunnar for the great guiding.

Nancy

There is so much that could be said about the fishing on the Madison River right now, but




simply put; it’s as good as it gets!

Salmon Flies, Golden Stones, Caddis, Yellow Sallies, Mayflies: the skies are filled with bugs, and the dry-fly fishing is off the charts!

On Monday I had the pleasure of being part of a multi-boat float of a family of five, all first-timers. And despite none of them ever having touched a fly rod before, and it being a very windy day, everyone caught fish, and everyone caught big fish. It’s always a joy as a guide to watch people catch fish, and to be the teacher who starts them on their flyfishing journey. But to also see the joy as a family experienced it together, well, that’s just as good as it gets. Congrats to all on their success.

On Tuesday, the fishing was even better, with big fish coming into the net one after another after another. And to my great pleasure, it was also a heartwarming day to be involved with. One of our neighbors and good friends, Travis, is heavily involved in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, and brought out his “little brother” from Arizona to experience flyfishing for the first time. It was an epic day of dry-fly fishing!

Congrats to Michael on all his catches, and an awesome start to his flyfishing journey … And also a thank you to his Big Brother; the world is a better place when people reach out to help others.

As far as the fishing, nearly all fish were caught on Salmon Fly dries, specifically Dan’s Secret Salmon Fly, and the Pteronarcys Chubby.

Fishing like this won’t last long. Get out there and get you some!

Marty

An Epic Day on the Upper Madison…..

Today was a great day with my dear friends. Fun fishing and great stories and memories shared. The weather was a bit stormy and chilly but that did not impact the bite. We fished Salmon Stone Fly Nymphs and a variety of other nymphs too. The Delektable Black and Black and Orange Stoners worked well. There were tons of stoneflies under the rocks.

Dan