Madison River Fishing Report

This Madison River fishing report is valid from November 1 until Thanksgiving. Note that the Madison inside YNP is not covered here, but in our Yellowstone Park Fishing Report.

Lower Madison Report

Good choice whenever the wind isn’t howling. Some BWO and midge hatches are possible in the PM. Otherwise, fish a crayfish with an egg dropper or swing lightweight streamers that flow well. Think MT Intruders or old-school Gartside Soft Hackles.

• Hatches: A few midges, more BWO. The BWO will be best on cloudy afternoons.
• Dry Flies: #16-18 attractor dries and #18-20 BWO and midge imitations.
• Nymphs & Wets: Clouser Crayfish, pink eggs, BWO nymphs, midge pupae.
• Streamers: Gartside Soft Hackle, Woolly Bugger, MT Intruder, Sparring Partner (tie them light), Kreelex, Sparkle Minnow.

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

Turning on as pressure drops. Look for BWO hatches or fish streamers.

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.