Hoot Owl restrictions remain in effect for the foreseeable future on the Upper Madison. So get on early and put those rods away at 2pm. Fishing overall remains pretty good. Although it seems each day right now is different. With periods of time and stretches of river producing that may or may not have produced the day before. It’s a patience game at times. Switching bugs, tactics, colors, to whatever our fishy friends want at that particular time. Nymphing is definitely your best bet for solid action throughout the day. But if you’re willing to stick with the dries and are patient and have a solid rotation of patterns you can bring some tiny guys as well as some nice ones to the net. And the streamer game is showing some great signs of life over that last week.
The dry fly action with hoppers, ants, and beetles has shown a bit more consistency over the last week. Especially in the Storey to Varney area. Tan, Yellow, Peach, and Pink seem to be the general colors of choice. In the mornings we still have some Epeourous Spinners and some Caddis out and about. So it’s wise to have some Rusty Spinners and your favorite Caddis imitations just in case. Nocturnals also remain active in the mornings as well.
As we said before nymphing remains fair to good most days. With Prince variants, Small to Mid Size Pat’s Rubberlegs, Lightning Bugs, Shop Vac’s , Dips, Delektable Lil’ Spankers and Pheasant Tails.
Streamer fishing is bringing some great fish early in the mornings. If you can get on at dawn or slightly before there are some players out there ready to pounce. Trailing your streamer with a small nymph continues to be highly effective as well over the last several days. Standard colors like Olive and Black are working great in the mornings and throughout the day. Brighter colors are taking some good fish also when the sun is high and bright.
We just received some of Dan’s new patterns this week. The full assortment of the Delektable Lil’ Secret Dries are now in stock in UV Cinnamon, Royal, Goldrush, and UV Caddis Green. These are great patterns to imitate smaller Stoneflies, Nocturnals, and make a good low riding Hopper Pattern as well. I had a chance to test some out a couple mornings ago and they did not disappoint. So stop by and grab some while you can. The guides and visitors are gobbling them up as we speak.
Dries: Thunder Thighs Hopper, Morrish Hopper, More or Less Hopper, Half Down Hopper in Tan, Peach, Pink, Yellow, #12-#14. Delektable Flying Ant in UV Cinnamon, UV Purple, Black, Black/Red, Red #14-#16. Delektable Lil’ Chubby in Royal, UV Cinnamon, Tan #14-#18. Delektable Chubbyness in Royal, UV Cinnamon, UV Purple and Rootbeer #12-#16. Parachute Adam’s #10-#16. Purple Haze #10 – #16. Yeager’s 409 Red #14-#16. Delektable Lil’ Secret UV Cinnamon, Royal #12-#18.
Nymphs: Pat’s Rubberlegs Black, Olive/Black,Brown, Coffee/Black #8-#12. Delektable Lil’ Spankers Silver, Gold, Red, Pheasant Tail #12-#18. Lightning Bugs Silver, Gold #14-#18. Shop Vac’s #14-#16. 3 Dollar Dips Brown #16-#18. Crystal Dips #16-#18. Formerly Known as Prince #12-#16. Prince Nymph #12-#16. Wire Worms #4-#8. Pheasant Tail Nymph #14-#18.
Streamers: Delektable Screamers Single and Double Black/Olive, Olive/White, Olive, White. Zonkers Natural and Olive. Trevor’s Sculpin Olive and Black. Dungeons Full Size and Mini. Silk Kitty. Sparkle Minnows. Kreelex. Sculpzilla Olive and Black.
As you can see we had a visit from two of the Hoot Owl Trout Princesses. They gave Dan some great Karma for that Fattie ‘Bow.
