This week has been a very busy one with the tourists starting to flow through and the bigger bugs crawlin’ to the banks. Guide season is now in full tilt on the Madison and there have been some nice fish being seen, caught and posed with. The Wild Adventure group has been here as well and they showed up with some guys that had never even held a flyrod….and they caught really nice fish! The river is just on right now! Our shop employees have been going out after work and doing well, gaining that shop intel you might need, so come in and pick their brains. The water is about 1,600 cfs at the West Fork and 2,640 cfs at the Cameron water gauge, and it is clearing up a little. It Is Prime Time. Hello! Be careful though, the water is still moving at a decent pace and we have those nice round slippery rocks to deal with. The bugs are looking good right now with big bomber Caddis on the rise as we approach the end of June. That is a bigger size Caddis than usual and he comes off every year right before Salmon fly season (which is a myth). There are stones moving around getting ready for the big exodus in July. The PMD nymphs are also starting to pick up a fish here and there. We have had a little cooler weather (I had ice on my guides this morning) lately but it makes for feistier, more aggressive trout, which we all like. It has been good to see a lot of you as you move
through your Spring into Summer, swinging in and saying hello here and there. Please keep coming in and saying hello!!! Hopefully we can even send you in the right direction to lock in that fish that’s been haunting you in your dreams. …We all have that one…
Fly report:
Dries:
- Big Chocolate Caddis (bombers) size 10 and 12’s Delektable Twisted Sisters and Twisted Babies in Tan/Brown or Brown are great for this too.
- Adams size 12
- Purple Haze size 12 through 16
- Delektable Royal Chubbyness size 10 and 12
- Brown Elk hair Caddis size 16 and even 18
- Stone fly dries here and there in size 8 and 10
Nymphs
- Delektable Mega Prince Standard and Flashback size 4-8
- Delaktable Stonefly Candy black and orange size 8 (balanced)
- Delektable Prince Brandon size 14
- Delektable Pheasant Tail Lil’ Spanker size 10 (bomber)
- Case Caddis patterns
- Any ol’ nymph will do really
The Straum Bomb
- Delektable Double Screamer Spawner
- Delektable Double Screamer White
- Delektable Double Screamer Olive with Rainbow dub
- Delektable Double Screamer Olive/Black with Silver dub
- Sculpzilla White size 6
- Silky Kitty White
- Sex Dungeon Yellow
- Delektable Single Screamer Yellow
- Double Boogieman Black
- Double Boogieman Grey/Tan
- Big streamers
- Bigger Streamers
- Homespun streamers
As you can see, the streamer bite has been on with this colder weather the last day or two, but the dry game is about to bump it up a notch here quick! One rule of thumb here on the Madison is that these fish will eat the dry even when there is no hatch going on or any rises to naturals. Throw them anyway. The fish have been taking the Delektable Royal Chubbyness in the smaller sizes #14 and #16 for the Bomber Caddis….and that’s a very good sign! More dries please! Well, I hope to NOT see you out on the river, but I do hope to hear that you were out there in another part of the river, HaHa. Anyways, please come in and say hey! Happy Fishing!!! -DanG
