Upper Madison River Fishing Report
Upper Madison River Fishing Report
6/24/2025
Walk Wade Stretch (Between the Lakes, Upriver of Lyon's Bridge, Downriver of Ennis):
Flows have been staying low for the start of summer and stayed pretty low all spring this year. The fish are restricted quite a bit with their water and will only be sitting in the really shallow stuff if they have good cover or the water is moving pretty fast. Salmonflies have not made it up into the upper walk wade stretches near raynold's pass yet. PMDs had just started to hatch in the lower sections near Ennis before the cold snap over the weekend but hatch activity from Caddis, Salmonflies, and various Mayflies should really get going again this week as temps warm back up.
Caddis are hatching in all areas of the Upper Madison River right now and there are a few different types that you might see. Having a variety of sizes right now can be extremely helpful when getting these fish to eat on the surface. Take your time, find fish that are actively rising, and put some blind casts into areas you might not expect a fish to be. You can be pretty surprised where a fish will come out of for a dry fly this time of year.
The water has cleared up a lot recently and you can't really go wrong with a method of fishing. Nymph rigs are still the way to get numbers in the net, dry fly opportunities are around and can be pretty productive, throwing a dry dropper gets you the best of both worlds, and streamer fishing is a bit of a commitment but can produce some amazing fish.
Float Stretch(Downriver of Lyon's Bridge to Ennis):
Water temps are looking prime and the Salmonflies had been hatching near the Story Ditch Boat Ramp area before the cold snap over the weekend. Weather forecasts are showing warm temps and a little bit of rain for the week ahead so it might take a few days for the heavy hatches to come back but the mild weather will make everything last quite a bit longer which is great news.
Once you see that water temp climb back up to 60 degrees, those PMDs will be hatching, in low down sections you could find some golden stone as well, but we are likely a few days away from that. If you are hitting the river this week, know that there are a lot of bug options out right now and it is all about figuring out what the fish are the most focused on.
Dry dropper setups are going to get you to be able to fish the most water types and have both surface and sub -surface action. The best way to find what dry fly you should focus on throwing will be from what insects you can find in the bushes. If you find some salmonflies at the boat ramp, you should probably try some salmonflies, if you shake a bush on the bank and a bunch of caddis come out of it, you should probably throw some caddis. With the weather, water conditions, and time of year, you will have a lot of options when it comes to bug life right now.
Dries: Paulson's Flutterbug (Black) #8, Fools Gold Salmonfly #8, Henry's Fork Foam Golden #10, Missing Link (Olive, Yellow) #16, Cornfed Caddis #14-16, Garcia's Mini Hot Mayfly(Purple) #16-18, Micro-Chubby(Black, Purple) #18
Nymphs:$3 Dip(Black, Red, Copper) #16-20, Prince Nymph #14-16, Olive or Pearl Perdigon #16-18, Olive Hotspot Perdigon #16-18, Lightning Bugs #16-20, Lite Brite Perdigon (Green) #14-18, Pat's Rubber Legs #10-14, Primetime Pupa #16
Streamers:Sex Dungeons, Barely Legal, Sparkle Minnows and Zonkers will move fish for you. Play with color and profile every day. Skinny vs. big heads, dark vs. light, etc. Don't be afraid to throw a streamer under your indicator and dead drift it!
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Thanks for checking out our Madison River Fishing Report brought to you from Big Sky, MT.
