What an exciting and adventurous week for the Ol’ Beartooth Flyfishing this week! This week we co-hosted 4 wonderful Veterans on a 3-day fishing excursion and what fun was had! Even in challenging conditions on the River and with weather not always the friendliest, they prevailed and found the true meaning of enjoying the wild Madison River! We also had our yearly high school students from the Nueva School in California and with the guidance of our fantastic guides were able to learn some new tricks and catch some nice fish! So, while we are dealing with our yearly runoff and high-water conditions, people are still catching fish, challenging their skills and enjoying the beautiful Madison Valley in the Spring! Thank you to all for the great efforts and smiles.
Catching has been most productive by targeting fish in slower water and soft pockets (back eddies on the bank, behind rocks, protected seams in the middle of the river) with a large Stonefly and smaller Nymph trailing and Streamers with smaller Nymph trailing. Dry Fly fishing is still on hold, there have been sightings of fish sipping and most likely on Baetis. Smaller Baetis nymphs have still been more effective than the dries.
This week Northwestern Energy has raised the waterflows gradually since Friday to 3,400cfs at Kirby, they will hold this until the end of the month, to help flush the River and improve our Trout fishery ecosystem. By the middle to end of next week we will see the river flows start to drop and most likely the clarity will improve. Streamflows this week started at 1,620cfs @ Kirby and 3,750cfs at Cameron and by the end of the week raised to 3,400cfs @ Kirby and 4,660cfs @ Cameron.
If the runoff has you down and unsure where to fish or how, stop on into Beartooth Flyfishing! We are here Everyday 8am-5pm, our knowledgeable staff can help you have the best fishing adventure!
Nymphs: Delektable Hammerhead GTBH Olive #14-#20; Delektable Mega Prince FB STD or Olive #4-#8; Delektable Big Spanker Warrior size #16- #18; Delektable Worm Red #12-#14, Pat’s RubberLegs Black, Black/Brown, or Olive/Brown #4-#8; Delektable Guide Stone Brown/Yellow, Black, or Olive Brown #4-#8; BH Tung Teaser Black #20; Geppert Crystal Dip Olive, Red #16-#18; BH Shop Vac Brown, Olive #16-#18; Wire Worm Red #6-#10; ; BH PT Tungsten Soft Hackle #20; Delektable Twinkle Black, or Red #18-#20; BH Montana Bullet Black, Black/Red #18; Delektable JH Tungsten Lil’ Spanker Pheasant Tail, Olive, Holo Olive Green, or Silver #14-#20; Delektable Lime Juice Caddis Emerger #16; BH Partridge Caddis Olive #16; Delektable TGBH Big Spanker Light Olive #14-#16, Psycho Prince GB Caddis Green #12-#16; Delektable Spark Plug Stoner Egg Head Black, or Egg Head Brown #6-#8.
Streamers: Delektable SS Jointed/Double/Single Screamer Olive/White, Black/Olive, White, or Yellow #6; Zonkers Olive, Natural Copper Body, Black, or White #6 & #8; Fish Wacker Mini White #6; Blooms Jig Hook Zirdle Gold, or Olive/Orange #10; TBH Balanced Leech Egg Sucking #10; Snapping Craw #8; Claws R Crawfish Olive, or Tan #10; McCune’s Sculpin Olive, Tan #4-#8; Delektable Christmas Tree Original #6; JR’s Conehead Streamer Olive #6; Yo Dali Llama Olive/White #6; Mini Loop Sculpin Olive & Natural #6; Sparkle Shelia Sculpin #4; Trevor’s Sculpin Olive, Natural #4, Zirdle Orange, Olive, or Tan #6; Bunny Buster #6; Mini Loop Sculpin Natural #6.
