Lower Madison River Fishing Report

Lower Madison River Fishing Report

6/24/2025

Water temps are still looking good for fishing on the Lower Madison River. Be cognisant of other recreational river users this time of year, this river gets busy during the summer time. And remember that if you see water temps start to hit 70, you should probably go fish somewhere else. The Lower Madison River will be on Hoot Owl Restrictions starting July 15th, if not sooner.

Sreamers in the mornings and evenings have been a lot of fun lately and there are a lot of dry flies out and about on the river right now. Before the cold snap, water temps were hitting 68 daily, so be sure to check water temps if you are fishing and call it a day if it is feeling really hot in the coming weeks.

This isn't new, but crawfish are something that these trout love. They don't love the huge giant ones, so don't get too carried away when it comes to fly selection. Our pick is a zirdle bug in olive, rust, or natural.

There is a lot of dry fly opportunity right now from golden stones, caddis, and PMDs on the Lower Madison right now. These fish are truly from bank to bank currently and there are a lot of fish sitting in the weed beds that will rise to a dry fly. Take your time fishing right now and go have a fun dry fly day, the opportunity is there.

FWP has been doing a lot of shocking and tagging of the trout on the Lower Madison this winter so keep an eye out for blue or yellow tags. To learn more about the trout tagging program click this link.

Pairing a variety of small stonefly nymphs like a Morrish Pick Pocket, Caddis pupae, or Mayfly emergers will help you find fish all day long. You can't really go wrong with a fly right now as long as you fish it at multiple depths and put it through the same run a few times.

Dries: Chubby Chernobyl (Yellow) #16, Jake's All Season Caddis (Tan) #14-16, Crime Scene Caddis (Olive) #14-16, Rio's Foam Run Caddis (Tan, Olive) #14-16, Carlson's Olive Haze #14-18

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.