Lower Madison River Fishing Report

Lower Madison River Fishing Report

9/26/25
The Lower Madison River has some awesome angling opportunities this time of year. Heavy trico hatches can get you some fun technical dry fly fishing. Good water temps provide some nice streamer opportunity. There are still hopper eating fish looking towards the surface. Crawfish are still active, and there will likely only be a few more weeks where the fish are keyed in on them before they start to burrow when water temps start to get cooler.

There's not a real reason to try and hit the water right at the crack of dawn, most of the action is happening during daylight hours. When the sun has been on the water for a little over an hour you can expect to see some emergence from midges and tricos. We are not very far away from seeing some great Blue Winged Olive action.

Right now, dead drifting or stripping streamers is probably the most fun option. Bright and flashy has been the best option when it comes to selecting a color. The fish are sitting in fast water, grass buckets, and gravel dropoffs so you can't really go wrong when it comes to where in the river you put a cast as long as it is deep enough to hold some fish.

Dries: Chubby Chernobyl (Yellow) #16, Hi-Vis Grand Hopper (Tan) #12-14, Keller's Henneberry Hopper (Green, Yellow, Pink, Tan, Grey) #10-12, More of Less Hopper (Goldenrod, Light Pink) #10-14

Nymphs: Nyman's Shop Vac #16-18, Guide's Choice Hare's Ear(Olive, Natural)#14-18, Perdigons (Black, Pearl, Green, Purple) #18-20, Spanish Bullet Perdigon #16-18, CDC Pheasant Tail #14-18, Prince Bead CDC #14-16, UV Greenie Weenie #14

Streamers: Sex Dungeons, Barely Legals, Copper Zonkers, Sheila's Sculpin, Silk Kitty, Mini Kill Whitey, Li'l Kims have been productive.  Play with color and profile every day. Skinny vs. big heads, dark vs. light, etc.

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Thanks for checking out our Madison River Fishing Report brought to you from Big Sky, MT.