Submitted by Galloup's Slide Inn on
Madison River Fishing Report for 3/4/2016
Dam: 910 cfs
Kirby: 971 cfs
Varney: 1,060 cfs
Madison river fishing report for 3-4-2016. The Madison continues to fish extremely well between Quake lake and Lyon’s bridge, and we’ve heard some decent reports coming in from the section between the lakes as well. Small midge larva/pupa, hares ears, Pat’s Rubber legs, and $3 Dips continue to be our most productive nymphs, but I’m sure you could do well on plenty of other patterns right now. As is the case throughout the Winter season, it is generally more about where you fish than what you fish. With that in mind, we are still finding the majority of the fish holding in the slower areas of the Madison, including deeper holes along fast seams. However, once the midges begin their emergence around 11:30 a.m. you will find an obvious migration towards the banks as fish begin to rise in numbers in the shallows. I know we’re starting to sound like a broken record, but the dry fly fishing has really been exceptional this Winter, and the Goober Midge continues to pick off just about every fish we put it over. Look for the majority of the hatch to come off from 11:30 – 2:00 and pray for calm weather, as the surface activity has been virtually non-existent when the wind picks up.
We have been getting a lot of phone calls this week in regards to the fishing in the float section. With the new 2016 regulations in place, this is the first time that many of us have been able to fish the Madison between Quake and McAtee Bridge. As of yesterday afternoon, all boat ramps in the float section are accessible with the exception of Palisades, which should be good to go in another two weeks I would guess. The ramp at Lyon’s Bridge is still pretty packed with snow, but you can easily slide your boat down the bank to avoid getting your rig stuck. A couple of us did a quick Lyons to Windy on Tuesday afternoon, and had a pretty good streamer bite throughout the majority of the float. Unfortunately the 20 mph tail wind didn’t do much for the dry fly fishing, but if the weather is right then you should be able to find fish up eating in the slicks.
The Madison between Quake and Hebgen is still very accessible between the dam and cabin creek, but it will be a while before you are able to drive the road below the Campfire. The snow is packed down enough to make the walk a little easier than it was a month ago, but snow shoes will definitely help you out if you are planning on heading down to Quake. We are starting to see a few rainbows coming into the system, so please watch out for spawning redds if you happen to see some freshly-cleaned gravel in your path.
The shop is currently open on the weekdays between 8:00-5:00, so be sure to stop by if you are looking for any information on where to go or what flies have been working. Be sure to keep checking back for another Madison river fishing report from the Slide Inn.
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