Andre and I shoved off from an empty Warm Springs parking lot around 3:40 and fished into the dark below the highway bridge.
Although the cloud cover didn't really deliver the way we'd hoped, we did manage to boat a few decent fish:
Stripping streamers wasn't producing, but drifting this crayfish pattern got some fish to move:
I heard they were chasing pretty good the other day on the Lower Madison, but were reluctant to commit in the bright sun. It appears that we have a one-day window of 'good' weather coming tomorrow, with more mild mostly sunny days to follow.
In other news:
Skunked on streamers, worms and small beads for a few hours between the bridge and Black's Ford yesterday.
I heard a 2nd hand report that fish were hitting yellow streamers pretty good earlier in the week.
Looks like some weather may come in tomorrow:
I started to update the shop reports this morning, but since every shop has essentially the same report for every nearby river, I'll just sum it up here: the fishing is generally good; use small BWO dries on cloudy days, two-fly nymph rigs w/ big-ugly/beadhead when they're not rising, or swing for the fences by stripping streamers.
Also, here's my photo-excuse for not fishing this weekend:
Twice in the past week I've found myself holding a fly-rod - October 1st on the lower Madison and yesterday on the Yellowstone. Both reports are essentially the same: we found pods sipping small dries (beatis and/or midges), but couldn't get the big stuff to work.
The 'highlight' of streamer fishing was snagging this little guy out of the boat ramp foam line:
As far as regular fishing reports go, I can't really commit just yet. I'll do what I can (e.g. see updated Shop Reports), but I have many other fall responsibilities that require attention.
Specifically, while I'm done chasing elk for the year...
...I drew a once-a-decade deer tag that I'd rather not eat...
...and pheasant season opens this Saturday:
Anyway, thanks for your patience. In the future, I'll try not to neglect the trout - they deserve better.
The 2pm-midnight restriction has been lifted on the Sheilds, Gallatin, East Gallatin and Lower Madison rivers. For details see, http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article_5947.aspx.
The referenced press release states that restrictions remain on the Lower Madison from Warm Springs to Three forks. However, other pages on the FWP website seems to suggest otherwise: http://fwp.mt.gov/fishing/guide/waterclosure.aspx
http://fwp.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=29184
Either way, the forecast looks pretty warm, so it's probably best to just lay off for a while yet.
Also, check out our updated photos, shop reports and articles/instructional video pages.
So, rumor has it that some of our own are withholding info. I could understand it if the 'sensitive intelligence' concerned some unknown river in some unknown region with some unknown flies or some such, but this was about hooking (i.e., not landing) a few 'lunkers' on a standard float....weak, to say the least.
Anyway, I floated the Lower Madison this morning. Despite what some people are saying, the water is reasonably cool (low 60's). Assuming you play them aggresively and don't manhandle them, they should survive a catch and release just fine.
The fishing was actually rather mediocre for us. We fished hoppers religiously and hooked (i.e., not landed) what appeared to be one legit toad. Other than that, we moved several and landed a few decent trout (by 'we', I mean mostly Andre).
There was a bit of moss in the column that would have made streamers tough, and we just weren't in the mood to watch an indicator, so I can't speak to the effectiveness of other approaches.
it's hot. do something else.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to InsideSeam in the Lower Madison category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
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