November, 2012. This tree is growing right out of the Ruby Rocks, near the road to Wall Creek Game Range, Madison Valley, Montana
Oct. 30, 2012…Weather forecast for Ennis today…sunny, high 63 degrees…nice.
Oct. 21, 2012…Here’s the five-day forecast for Ennis:
Mon.-snow, Tues.-snow, Wed.-snow, Thurs.-snow, Fri.-snow.
That about wraps it up for now.
Oct.2, 2012…Here’s the weather forecast for Ennis…”Tonight…a 30 percent chance of snow after 1AM. Snow level 9800 feet lowering to 5000 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. West wind 12 to 17 mph becoming West 5 to 10 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph. Total nightime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.”…
Pass the whiskey!
Sept. 18-22…Big Ones On the Bite! Some really nice trout caught this week in the Channels section of the Madison River…cooler nights and lower water temps have helped get the big fish “motivated”. Pearl body Zonkers and Psycho Princh nymphs doing the best work…several fish over 20 inches. It’s a beautiful thing!
Sept. 12, 2012…Another good fishing day…several nice trout on dry and wet flys…we even found some fish rising late in the day…water temps: 52 deg. @ Varney 10AM…60 deg. @ Evening Hole 2PM…64 deg @ Camp Ground 4PM…sunny, 80 deg. air temp this afternoon!
Sept. 10, 2012…Sunny Sept. day on the Madison…several nice fish for Herb O. on drys and wets including this 18″ brown trout…well done!
Sept. 2, 2012…Nice fishing in the Varney stretch today for Cindy B….the hot fly was my home-tie: Purple Death!
Aug. 31, 2012… Nice fish this morning at Madison Flats..largest a twenty inch brown trout caught on a #16 pheasant tail nymph. Good baetis hatch along the cattails.
Aug. 20, 2012…Ants…flying ants like the one shown here…this is what we are looking for…this is what the trout are looking for…amber/honey colored hour-glass shaped bodies…landing on the water…helpless…hopeless…sluuurrrp! Another one bites the dust…into the jaws of a brown or a rainbow…the flying ant hatch on the Madison River…now we’re having fun!
Aug. 17, 2012…Nice morning at Madison Flats…heavy baetis hatch…lots of risers…caught two nice rainbows…19 and 20 inches…wind was calm…water temp. 65 deg. in the morning…70 deg. at 2PM.
Aug. 14, 2012…flows still good on the upper Madison…1030cfs Hebgen…1090cfs West Fork…1180cfs Varney…water temps pushing 70 deg. in the afternoon but a strong cold front moving down from Alberta and shorter days should help cool things off…36 degrees here Wed. night…brrr!
Aug. 13, 2012….Kevin Murray caught a nice brown trout on the last cast of the day…lucky for us, his kids were there to help us capture this rascal…love it when a plan comes together! Nice fish Kevin.
This fish was released alive to swim away unharmed.
Aug. 10, 2012…Major trico hatch Madison Flats 8-10AM the past few days…large trout nosing and slurping spinners in the shallows…really nice rainbow caught by Bill Sachs of Dallas, TX…good fish!
July 23, 2012…we have been real lucky with flows so far this summer…even though the weather has been hot in the afternoon the folks up at Hebgen Dam have been spot-on with keeping the river at very nice levels…1180cfs/Hebgen…1280cfs/West Fork…1500cfs/Varney as of today…this is a good situation! An aerated trout is a happy trout!
July 20, 2012…Some big trout biting in the Varney section…nice fish Kent!
July 10, 2012…another great day on dry flys on the upper Madison…heavy PMD hatch at 8AM and it just kept getting better…we had three boats and everybody was catching nice trout…it’s been really good around here!
July 8, 2012…Great morning on the upper river…21 trout on dries before lunch!…nice PMD hatch started about 10am…browns and rainbows of size were on the feed…flows are perfect: 1230cfs at the West Fork…come on down!
July 1, 2012…WOW…Madison flats this morning…hooked a monster on my calibaetis home-tie…took off deep…under the weeds…into the backing and gone! Never saw the fish…could have been anything…there are huge browns in here…8, 10 lbs. and over…who knows? Great day of fishing.
June 25, 2012…good dry fly action this morning…salmon flys scattered all the way up to Palisades…they were hitting the big dry from Palisades to Ruby Ck…heavy south wind blew up…very hot, windy, dry…one more day of this and then it settles down…hatch is early, widespread and scattered up and down the river…heavy winds blowing the big naturals into the river…water temp. 62 degrees above McAtee this morning…got a report of large trout being taken on the big dry fly below Varney today…water level and clarity excellent…stay tuned.
June 22, 2012…Madison River flows…1650cfs at West Fork…2260cfs at Varney…lots of water in the river…be careful if you are wade fishing but the clarity is good.
June 20, 2012…Madison River Salmon Fly report…the river is in great shape…some salmon flys reported below town…we are in for a warm weather spell…water temps are rising into the mid 50s…55 degree water temp is the key to the salmon fly nymphs starting their crawl to the river banks…this is one of the best times of the year to catch a large trout on a dry fly on the Madison, but the fish can be picky. Through the years, I have developed a salmon fly that works.I tie these on a very strong Mustad 9672 hook…the body is dyed orange deer hair tied extended and wrapped around a toothpick. I use black magic marker pen to simulate the egg sac. The wing is blonde elk hair with a bullet head. I believe the body is the key to this fly and triggers the big fish to grab it. Use stout tippet…pitch it close to the willow banks and hang on! The heaviest fly hatch is usually between McAtee and Varney but the really big trout are lurking below the Varney Bridge. If you are wade fishing, work upstream…hang on to the willows with one hand and cast with the other!…Good luck and if you fall in get back up and keep fishing!
March, 2012…Snowpack levels in Yellowstone near normal. This bodes well for healthy flows in the Upper Madison river this summer. Looking forward to a great fly fishing summer! Check out the link from the Billings Gazette: Snowpack in Yellowstone
October, 2011…Fall fishing is a great time to catch large trout, especially the browns who are beginning their spawing urge. Three of my favorite Fall flys are the RB Bunny, Missouri Spruce and Purple Death. Any of the three are deadly from October and on into November. One of the largest browns I have ever caught was taken on Nov. 5 so in between hunting trips try some fishing in November! (long johns suggested).
Top to bottom above: RB Bunny, Missouri Spruce, Purple Death
8/18/11…Really nice flow levels in the Madison right now…841cfs out of Hebgen Dam…994cfs @ West Fork…1160cfs @ Varney…all you wade fishermen (and ladies) “come on down”…the water is fine!
8/15/11…Nine nice trout between 15″-20″ today…then the wind blew like a “Hurricane”…everyone got home safe…good job Paul and Ellen!
8/13/11…great morning on the Flats…nine trout released…all rainbows…18 inches to 21 inches…all on the surface…monster callibaetis and trico hatch today…life is good!
8/8/11…Big rainbow caught by Bert Summers from Rexburg, ID in the Snag Hole today…beauty!
8/4/11…Excellent fishing today on Madison Flats…several nice trout to the net…hundreds of trout rising to callibaetis and damsels…this is truly a special fishery.
7/31/11…Six big trout this morning in the Varney section…good job CB!
7/25/11…20 inch brown this morning on the red fly for Andrew Federico of Killingworth, CT…nice fish Andrew!
7/24/11…Madison dropping…flows levelled off…1020cfs @ Hebgen Dam…1350cfs @ West Fork…1850cfs @ Varney.