Lower Madison River Fishing Report

Lower Madison River Fishing Report

3/12/2025

Be sure you've purchased your 2025 fishing license before heading out on the water! You can get a new license here.

With the recent spell of warmer weather the Lower Madison is a great option for some wade fishing or those early season floats. The boat ramps are pretty much entirely clear, but make sure you are launching your boat with a 4 wheel drive vehicle just in case there's some snow or ice lingering on the ramp.

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.

Whether you are float fishing or walk wading, spending some time in deep, slow runs will be how you find a lot of opportunities. Moving too fast or not taking the time to fish the same run at multiple depths can keep a lot of anglers limited in the winter time. While nymph rigs are going to be the primary way of fishing for the next few months, dry fly fishing during prolific midge hatches can be really awesome on this river. Water temps are staying pretty low still, however, once you start seeing 40 degrees show on the chart everyday, you can bet to see some Blue Winged Olives on the Lower Madison pretty regularly. Check water temps for the Lower Madison here.

Worms, leeches, annd rubber legs are the attractor patterns that we like and one of those will likely always be on a nymph rig unless we are fishing small emergers or dry flies during a good winter time hatch. Pairing a variety of small midge larvae, caddis larvae, and midge 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: Buzzballs #18-20, Para-Sipper BWO #18-22, Parachute Adams (natural, purple, patriot) #18-20, Midge Cluster #18-20, Brook's Sprout Baetis #18-22, Double Vision BWO #18-20, Para-Wulff Adams #16-18

Nymphs: Jig Crossfit Midge (red, black) #18-20, Nyman's Shop Vac #16-18, Guide's Choice Hairs Ear(Olive, Natural)#14-18, Perdigons (Black, Pearl, Green, Purple) #18-20, Spanish Bullet Perdigon #16-18

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.