Madison River Fly Fishing Report

Nicholas A. Peterson, NorthShore of the Madison

Browns. That should be all I need to say but let me dive into this! As fall/winter creeps up on us (today woke up to snow, tomorrow 65 F and sunny, hey it’s Montana), the browns are getting super angry and horny.  The fall run is approaching fast and we, the angler and fish, are gearing up for some of the best fishing of the year.  

As for now the fishing is good.  Before this storm the hopper hatch was great, multiple 18" plus fish caught on hoppers it doesn’t get any better than that.  In the afternoon if the temps warm up get ready for hoppas.

The nymphing bite has been the most productive bringing big fish to the boat like the one in the photo above.  Purple Prince, 20" Brown, Done, Repeat.

If you can handle some colder temps, from now until November is the best time to fish Montana but you must come prepared for anything, just like the Boy Scouts we all want to be!