Montana’s New Madison
If the canyon doesn’t offer the type of experience you’re looking for, you can avoid most of the angling pressure, even in the stretch between Hebgen Lake and Ennis Lake, by fishing early or late in the day or by fishing the early or late seasons. Most vacationing anglers indulge in a hearty breakfast or a steak dinner after a good day on the water. Pass on evening drinks or get out of bed extra early to fish before the hoards hit the water. Staying out late and casting caddis next to the willows while the crowds call it quits means you’ll often find good trout rising and some solitude.
To avoid crowds, I fish the Madison from February to May, prior to runoff. At that time, fishing is mostly subsurface with Glo Bugs, Flashback Pheasant Tails, Hare’s Ears, sculpins, Woolly Buggers, Lightning Bugs, Prince Nymphs, and Serendipities. From McAtee Bridge to Ennis Bridge, anglers find lots of big rainbows and a few browns. Unfortunately, the browns may run a little thin at that time, but the rainbows can be enormous—3- and 4-pound fish are not uncommon.
I start fishing the river again in mid-September when the weather cools and the vacation season ends. In September, October, and November, many anglers exchange their rods for rifles and shotguns and are in the hills chasing big game and upland birds.
Fall is a great time to be on the Madison. Whether you catch fish or not, the colors and migrating waterfowl make any trip a rewarding experience. In addition, Madison brown trout get aggressive as they prepare to spawn. I’ve caught my largest Madison browns in October and November. Fall browns are solid, with bright-yellow coloration and crimson spots that seem to levitate above their sides. They smack a variety of patterns including Prince Nymphs, Glo Bugs, Yuk Bugs, Flashback Pheasant Tails, Egg-sucking Leeches, sculpins, and Krystal Buggers. Particular stretches of the river, such as between Hebgen Dam and Quake Lake, where anglers target big browns moving up from Quake Lake, are crowded at times, but the rest of the river is fairly tame. If you want real solitude, fish the river on a windy, snowy day, but be prepared to build a warm fire afterward.
You can’t escape the wind in the Madison Valley. When I was looking for a place to buy a home, I looked hard at Livingston, Montana, but locals said, “This would be the greatest place in the world, but the wind is a killer.” So I moved to Ennis and soon after realized that if Livingston is the windiest place in Montana, the town of Ennis and the Madison Valley is a close second. The wind makes stiff 5-weight rods and matching weight-forward lines the ideal choices here.
Hatches
Something that hasn’t changed about the Madison after the whirling-disease scare is that the river has a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial insects to match.
The action begins in March and April with Baetis mayflies. Some of the best Baetis hatches occur on the lower river from Ennis Dam through Bear Trap Canyon and all the way downstream to the Cobblestone fishing access site. The area around Slide Inn and Raynolds Pass Bridge on the upper river also offers fantastic Baetis when it opens in May. The area from Lyons Bridge upstream, past Slide Inn, to the Quake Lake outlet, which typically runs clear, is an excellent place to be in May and June when other portions of the river are muddy. Weather on the entire river during May and June is unpredictable. To be safe, bring appropriate cold-weather gear and something warm to drink.
Another early-season emergence worth noting is the Mother’s Day Caddis hatch, which, depending on the weather, may appear anytime between late March and early May. Especially on the lower river, below Bear Trap Canyon, millions of Brachycentrus caddis fill the air and crawl on the bankside brush, and you can see trout snouts parting the water. Anglers should try a variety of imitations—including Elk-hair Caddis, Goddard Caddis, and Trudes—to take fish. Don’t expect solitude during this hatch, but expect browns and rainbows to 18 inches or larger.
During nonhatch periods, try streamers such as Zonkers, Woolly Buggers, and crayfish imitations to catch some of the river’s largest browns. If you’re an angler interested in large trout and not matching hatches, stick with big streamers and work the deep pools, logjams, and cut banks. Large fish exist throughout the river, with an abundance of big browns between Varney Bridge and Ennis Lake. Fish deep early or late in the day or at night. Ten-pound, salmon-size trout aren’t out of the question.
Salmonflies hatch on the Madison sometime in June on the lower river and move upstream through Bear Trap Canyon before popping on the upper Madison above Ennis. The Salmonfly hatch is a great show, even though pressure on the river during that event is phenomenal.
To illustrate the amount of pressure during this hatch, Connie Diede, who runs Meadowlark Shuttles, ran 93 shuttles on the upper river between Lyons Bridge and Ennis Lake on June 21, 2003, her best single-day day total in history. That mark bested the 84 shuttles she ran the day before. Just three days later, on June 26, she ran 86 shuttles. During the first two weeks of July she ran an average of 65 shuttles a day. And Diede’s statistics don’t include anglers who ran their own shuttles or the number of vehicles shuttled by competing operations.
In June, July, and August anglers may see Golden Stones, a myriad of caddis species, Pale Morning Duns, Yellow Sallies, Green Drakes, perhaps a few Tricos, and Flavs. On most occasions, anglers who work specific runs and holes can pick off individual fish on dry flies and emergers all day long.
In late July, August, and September, terrestrials take over. Big fish rise to hopper, ant, and beetle imitations. When fishing terrestrial patterns, it pays to fish a dropper rig. Good droppers include Hare’s Ears, Flashback Pheasant Tails, Serendipities, Prince Nymphs, Lightning Bugs, and Copper Johns.
During the fall, Baetis return to the scene and excellent hatches are found on the lower river, from the mouth of Bear Trap to the Cobblestone access site. Wade fishing in that stretch is ideal due to a soft bottom and carpets of grass that keep you from slipping.
Baetis are abundant on the upper river at that time from Lyons Bridge upstream to Quake Lake. The entire upper river and the Bear Trap Canyon are difficult to wade. The rocks are fish-slime slick; felt-bottomed, studded wading boots are a must.
Overall, the new Madison isn’t much different than the old Madison, except it’s 2005 and not 1950. There are more anglers, more guides, more people, and more attitude on the river than ever before. These days, with recreation time at a minimum and science and technology at our fingertips, there is a trend to base the success of a day on the number of big fish brought to the net. That is a mistake when fishing the Madison. The Madison Valley is one of the most dramatic landscapes in the West, and just visiting and viewing the valley, including its main town of Ennis, is an important part of any trip to the area. Anglers should take in the entire scene.
In Ennis, the talk of the town is fly fishing. Ennis may be the most fly-
fishing-saturated town in the West. It probably tops the list in per capita drift-boat ownership. And, it’s a place you ought to throw a line as soon as you can. Whenever I wade into the Madison and study my surroundings—the broad valley, the fertile river, and the towering snowcapped peaks—I often feel like there’s no better place to be, even though there are a few extra anglers on the water these days.
Greg Thomas is the Fly Fisherman western editor and the author of five books. He lives in Ennis, Montana.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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