Madison River fishing

tageater · Jul 12, 2011

For the last 6 days my fishin buddy and I fished the Madison. I've never fished it and didn't know what to expect, but we had been watching the USGS water levels and knew the eater would be high.

We'd hoped for a Salmon fly hatch, but when we SAW the river we knew it wasn't to be. High water and lots of color in the water. We still had high hopes of some good fishing. We do prefer to fish off colored water- I say its cause with clear water I have to sneak up on them, and I'm not a sneaky bast@rd...

We stopped into Kelly Galloup's fly shop, and got his advice, picked up a few flies, and just talked fishing for a few...

We caught the hell out off the 14"-19" rainbows...a few Whitefish(boooooooo), and browns(the ones we went up there for) out to 23"-

The trip was an eye opener for me, as I learned a ton. (Including- when talking your nephew down to the lake to power-bait it with the snoopy rod, you better not assume it won't get pulled into the depths!)

I won't bore you with ALL the pictures of all the 14-19" fish we caught, but here is the best Brown netted. That's a big ole streamer in his mouth, NOT a pile of moss! I've never used streamers at night...Well I WILL never NOT throw one again, and the bigger the better!

gaetz · Jul 12, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-11 AT 09:10PM (MST)[p]Nice looking brown there. It's always great to come away from a trip with more knowledge. With all the high water inundating the streams, it wouldn't suprise me if that brown thought that streamer was a nice, healthy mouse.

And by the way, like deer photos, fish pictures can never get boring.

TRH

tageater · Jul 12, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Jul-13-11 AT 00:13AM (MST)[p]We believe he thought it was a frog-tons of them lil critters near the river. But I didn't care if they thought it was the damn "Never Eat Agin Fairy"- they absolutely came unglued if we slapped the water with an 8" streamer, and they were within 3 feet of it!

Edit- I'll post more photos- hopefully tomorrow...

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/48696fc97cd60c01.jpg

tageater · Jul 13, 2011

Waiting for the bite....

The story is....is that the indians sold this bridge to the trappers for 3 dollars. Whether that's true or not I don't know.

Not the worse scenery to have to be in...

I guess I'm lucky- the phone got soaked, yet continued to take pics. Another hazy day catching browns.

Finally someone other than ME was Taking the picture-

My last brown of the trip-

Hope you kinda enjoy the pics-

One last scenery pic

montana_brad · Jul 13, 2011

Great fish and pics...might have to make a little road trip next year gotta love catchin big browns on big flies.

philthy · Jul 14, 2011

Excellent! The Maddy and all the other streams in MT are on my bucket list...maybe sooner rather than later if I've got anything to say about it! I've fished the San Juan about 10 days in the last month. It's been great, but I'm looking forward to something different. Buddies are fishing the Rio Grande in CO next week and I'd love to go. If the interview goes well next week and I get a job offer, I'm going!

sethlopez85 · Jul 20, 2011

My Aunt and her boyfriend Bill Devane live right there, and are good friends with Kelly next time your down there, I prob can have Bill take you out on his drift boat. I was there last summer and also caught some really nice Browns..If your intrested let me know. Nice pics thanks for sharing.

tageater · Jul 20, 2011

tHanks for the offer Seth- if and when we start our planning for getting back up there I will check back in to see if the offer is still good!

-JD

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/48696fc97cd60c01.jpg

sethlopez85 · Aug 11, 2011

No problem PM me any time.
My drinking buddies have a hunting problem

eldorado · Aug 12, 2011

Beautiful river country. Nice browns and bows. Thanks for sharing.

Eldorado

ElkSniper · Aug 18, 2011

Nice!

Gator · Aug 20, 2011

I have a buddy who just spent 5 weeks up in Mt fishing all over he said it was outstanding on the Madison this year.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".

tageater · Aug 20, 2011

Gator- it was hit n miss during the afternoons- visibility in the water had everything to do with that, but the evenings....I'm only sorry didn't figure them out sooner, or more 20+"'ers would have been netted!

I can not wait until we make another, short 5 hour drive!

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/48696fc97cd60c01.jpg

shotgunjim · Aug 22, 2011

I fished the Maddy for one day in early July, then left. It certainly has seen better days then. You do know, You drove past a river that was fishing the best it has in years for big fish on dries for almost 2 straight months. The weekend after memorial day thru the end of July. Never tied on anything but dries, Browns to 26".

No estas en mexico ahora, entonces escoja tu basura
chancho sucio.

tageater · Aug 22, 2011

What river was fishing like that, SGJ-?

And please share some pics of your trip.

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/48696fc97cd60c01.jpg

shotgunjim · Aug 24, 2011

The HF. Trip? You mean trips. I've been making that 4 to 5 hour drive almost every weekend since Memorial day. The HF has slowed and construction or destruction of Ashton dam, however you want to look at it has begun, which according to some will kill the lower HF and will most likely not recover in our lifetime. (Hope they're wrong) Now that the SF has finally cleared, only about 2 months later then normal, I've been fishing there the last 3 weekends. It's fishing no where near as good as it usually does. The fish are there but the bugs are not. Nymph fishing is good but I get tired of watching indictors real fast. Streamer fishing early and late have been pretty dang good though. I'm bad at taking photos, especially when I'am fishing by myself which is a lot. I have some pics of the bigger fish caught this year but I'am not sure I want my ugly mug posted on the internet, not to mention I have no idea how to post pics on here. PM me your e-mail and I'll shoot you a few, that I know how to do.

No estas en mexico ahora, entonces escoja tu basura
chancho sucio.

tageater · Aug 25, 2011

Email: [email protected]

Once my elk hunting has come to an end, I may be ready to fish again.

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/48696fc97cd60c01.jpg

hunt4130 · Sep 3, 2011

pretty fish! i need to get up there soon!

rutnbuck · Sep 5, 2011

Way to go Tag Nice.
Rutnbuck

OmegaMan · Sep 7, 2011

Love fishin big old streamers like that! Nice job and beautiful fish!

tageater · Sep 8, 2011

Thx O-man, and everyone. That trip was so fun, we are kinda thinking we may go back in a week for round 2.

I better get tying!

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/User_files/48696fc97cd60c01.jpg

crimedog · Nov 12, 2011

This may be blasphemy but, I love the Madison. My favorite river any where to fish. I spend my time here in Utah with a fly rod in hand, but when I hit the Madison I use a light weight spinning rod and rapalas. You can suck the river clean with those. Take off the middle treble, put all the barbs down and then fish that fast nasty heavy water in the middle and it's just amazing what you come up with.