InsideSeam

...to start fishing the Lower Madi again.

Sunday, September 9, 2007
River-Lower Madison
Section-Warm Springs to Black's Ford

Well Ags, it was a shotgun start around 9:00 AM at the Warm Springs put it. There were lots of guides out and it seemed the Lower was the spot. First part of the float yielded a nice strike on a crayfish. I attribute angler error to missing a nice 16-18 " rainbow. We couldn't get anything on the streamer in the upper section. Right before the bridge in the honey hole we pulled out a nice slot bow on a green bow river bugger. Toad alley below the bridge was tough but Bryan Grossenbacher's client pulled a toad brown out of there on a size 16 lightning bug. After the proverbial toad alley is the shoals on river left. I had some nice hopper action through there a couple weeks ago so I threw on a club sandwich and a slabby 16" bow hammered it. It was the best fight I have ever seen from a fish that size. That section is still pretty weedy and shallow so the "one fly" was the way to go. After that I put random nymph droppers off the hoppers and we picked holes to the take out yielding some nice double hook ups on little guys. My guy in the back missed a nice brown on his hopper a little after cherry creek. "Gotta let'em eat!" If I had a little more experience in the boat I think it would have been a really good day on the lower. When the sun is poppin get those hoppers out there and don't be afraid to fish the shallow water. Take care and NEVER SQUEEZE A FISH!

-Meade

Saturday, September 8, 2007
River-Upper Madison
Section-Varney Bridge to 8 Mile

As I was driving down the road past burnt tree I saw a couple shuttles being
run, but no cars at the Burnt Tree FAS. Got to 8 mile and only saw 3
trailers parked there - I thought I would be one of the few on the Varney
down stretch... I was wrong. When I got to Varney you would have thought it
was a trailer sale - there were probably 20 vehicles parked at that FAS...
There were two guys in line behind me waiting to put-in. Got the boat in the
water and started down past the bridge.

Surprisingly, the fishing started off with a bang! The first fish was hooked
right at the Bridge at Varney on a #8 Natural Zonker. A few more fish were
taken on a prince dropper - but we hooked up quite a few times in corners
and in back eddies stripping the Zonker out. I have pictures of some fish,
but I dropped my digital camera in the river twice in the past 2 months so I
have resorted to using a disposable (Ill get the pictures ASAP). Fish size
averaged in the 14-16" range with the first fish being about 18 followed by
a 17-18" rainbow and a brown that went 19. There were probably a couple
fish pushing 20 that weren't landed.

But after being told today that the Stone was blown out yesterday, looking
around at some points during the day and seeing 6 boats coming from side
channels made sense. IT WAS PACKED! I probably passed 8 boats within the
first 2 hours and then they started showing up like cockroaches from the
side channels... 15+ boats on the Varney to 8 Mile stretch is pushing it a
little bit.

Can't wait for the Jefferson and the Big Hole to re-open!

-Nate

Four Rivers Fishing Company

I just got the weekend report from my buddy Mason. He said the Beaverhead fished tough on Sunday. He tried the hopper dropper tight to the banks and deep nymphing and did not have much luck. Apparently there were a lot of weeds in the water so he spent a lot of time removing the goo from his flies.

In spite of the sunny hot weather, he said the Madison fished well yesterday. He floated Varney to town and landed some nice brownies on the hopper dropper setup. He did say the fishing was better up higher. That is all I have for now.