Madison River Fishing Report

This Madison River fishing report is valid from July 7 until Labor Day. Note that the Madison inside YNP is not covered here, but in our Yellowstone Park Fishing Report.

Lower Madison Report

Overwhelming crowds of inner tubers and kayakers, and water temps exceeding 70 every afternoon except right below Ennis Dam mean that it’s not really a great idea to fish here until early autumn. The temps given on the gauge below are right at the dam. They might be more than 5 degrees warmer at Black’s Ford Fishing Access Site.

• Hatches:
• Dry Flies:
• Nymphs & Wets:
• Streamers:

Lower Madison River – Streamflow Data

Fishing is generally best here when flows are on a natural rise, though most of the time they jump around due to discharge from Ennis Dam. Flows over about 4000cfs make for very difficult fishing, as do very low flows.

The Lower Madison almost always gets too warm to fish from late June or early July through Labor Day. Keep a close eye on the temperature graph. Anytime flows exceed 73F, expect closures. You should stay away, anyway. Full closures are implemented when water temps fail to drop below 70 at night. This is most common in early August, when this is an awful place to fish anyway due to aquatic weeds and vast swarms of drunks in inner tubes.

Upper Madison Report

Starting to slow down due to dropping water and pressure, but still productive. Fish a Chubby Chernobyle or similar with a Perdigon or similar dropper unless you see hatches. The best hatches will be late evening caddis. Linger over dinner, then go out and fish the last hour before sunset and a bit beyond that.

This area is honestly beyond our regular operations area, so we don’t get up there very often and don’t have any recent info. Check with shops in Ennis, instead.

Madison River Fishing Report – Relevant Links

• Ennis Weather

Note: We update our general fishing report far more often than our fishery-specific reports like this one, especially between November and April.