Author: Steve Price

If you haven’t been using yer streamers yet, I would get on the boat. We have been pulling some nice browns off of the banks in the evenings with streamers. The evenings that have been cloudy and rainy have been our best streamer nights. We have been staying close to 20 inches with most browns caught on streamers with black being the favorite color. The wooly buggers are working great now too. And I haven’t tried a bitch creek yet, but they are literally everywhere on the banks.  As it has been slowing down here a bit at the end of summer, we have had a little more time to tie up some of those dirty streamers we’ve had in mind all season. We have been pleased with some of the results and not so pleased with others 🙂 but overall, the rewards are always the same; Fishin’ on the river with yer friends and a freedom that you just can’t put words to.

DanG

The Fully Wild group of men were out again this morning! The reports and the pictures will be exciting for you because this means the river is still fishing excellent! Browns, browns and more browns are being caught as they start their journey upstream this fall to spawn and they are eating gooood right now!!! As usual, it was good earlier in the morning and then it slowed down a bit later on towards lunch. Our Beartooth guides

did a great job today as they had some first timers casting beautiful drifts that produced  a healthy dose of nice fish! Marty’s boat did very well this morning on hoppers and ants, while other guides did well on streamers and small nymphs. Sheila seems to be the Queen on the river now for streamers with the zonker and sculpzilla not far behind. The weather was a bit cloudy (perfect) today with threatening rain and wind to back it up, but the men were just fine and pushed on through. The lightening started to shut things down closer to the end for some today but overall it was a great morning with tight lines and happy clients!

Dang

The CFS of the Madison has been staying pretty consistent throughout the week (930-950) and fishing has been good to great! After taking a few whole days on the river myself and hearing what all the guides have to say, I’d say it’s been a lot better than the past couple of

weeks that brought all that hot weather. The fish are gettin a little more spunky and warmin up to the water temps that have been unusually higher. Some dries that are working: Cinnamin Ants!, Hoppers,Royal Wuffs, Henryville style Caddis with legs,Royal Caddis, Spruce Moths, Rusty Spinners,Purple Haze, Fat Alberts, Delektable Teasears (Royal and, Purple and adams), and some PMD patterns. 

Some nymphs that are working:Hare’s Ear’s,Psycho Princes , Mega Princes, Chartreuse Copper Johns, Leslie’s Red Head PT Cruiser, little red nymphs, little blue nymphs, little green ones for caddis(CDC pupa style), and yer rotation of your favorite traditional soft hackle patterns like for instance the soft hackled tungsten beadhead Pheasant Tail. As we are coming closer to the end of summer and moving into fall, we would like to thank all our guides for their dedication to the sport they love so much and for helping us make you guys so happy!!!  That being said…the running browns are coming soon, and you don’t want to be caught out of practice! So get your streamers out and start throwing them a little earlier. Right now, they are keying in on the smaller sculpin patterns with single hooks and stingers, but soon they will be more likely to hit the articulated streamers as the snow and colder weather comes and they are more apt to get angry and feisty!!

DanG

 

This past week a number a different tactics have been used to get the fish to eat. Little streamers with nymphs trailing have been real good this week. The nymphs and colors the guides (and shop rats) have suggested are as follows; copper johns, tinsel tim, batman, sparkle prince, purple prince, lightning bugs, caddis emergers, and micro mayflies. These flies are reds, purples, blues, green to olives, and are mostly in the 16-18
size range and trailed 20-25 inches behind yer big guy. Dead drifting has produced many nice fish and different forms and patterns of stripping. Some nice size fish have been taken on the girdle bug lately too, but it seems to be a one fish wonder. The nocturnal stone is petering off; however a golden stone dry in the morning below Lyons Bridge has been phenomenal for some. Streamers and smaller sculpin patterns have been turning some bigger heads! Some really nice fish are being caught on sculpin patterns such as the Double Bunny, the Sheila, bunny Flash Fry, Sculp-zilla, and the Zonker. The rabbit fur is workin’ like a charm now! The weather has also been cooperative for streamer fishing with rain and cloudy cooler temps, but dont get caught in the rain or hail!! On the dry side, Purple Haze variations with a wulffy look have been doing good for some along with Dan’s Delektable Halo caddis pattern with legs. Grey and Olive caddis patterns with legs sizes 16 and 18. Purple, grey, tan , and brown have been good mayfly colors. There has been a Good ant action below Ruby Creek to Town. The colors have been red, pink, and black. don’t give up on the dries (not that you would ever do such a thing:)!! The weather has been, well, typical Montana weather with rain, cold, warm, nice, rain, cold, warm and then nice again usually all in the same float. But, as always, it is a beautiful float wherever you are on the Great Madison River! We have been having some longtime and returning clients here and we are having a blast really getting to know you guys:) and we love taking care of you!!! Happy fishing and go git ’em!!!

 

DanG

Hey all! The ant has been working for us here on the Madison! That little guy is teasing the fish too much now and they just can’t take it! The water is coming up again slowly and the fish have been kinda weird, but try the ant! It has been real hot still, so they are a little slower in the late morning to afternoon. The pearl lightning bug size 14 is still kickin’ butt along with some other small nymphs like the pheasant tail softie size 16. Today it seemed like everyone around was hooked up and rods were bent. The smoke plumes have been pretty impressive over the past week, but it is clearing and the cloud cover was still great today, so we had some happy clients. And as you probably know, happy clients mean happy guides
and happy guides therefore means happy wives :). So, smaller hoppers with smaller droppers have been the key to the game lately. A few other small nymphs are the copper john (red), prince, and micro mayflies. This week the ladies really cleaned up! There may or may not have been a little competition going on between them all but, so you guys be the judges. Great job ladies and we cant wait to have you back! That’s all! Enjoy the pictures!! Happy fishing!!!

 

DanG

On the Madison this past two weeks, we have been seeing fish taking smaller streamers with small nymphs trailing, hoppers (sizes 10-14) with small droppers into the middle of the day and bigger nymphs in tandem in sizes 12 and 14 all during the day.                                                        

These are some of the combos that are working very well right now, and if you are thinking outside the boat and using some strategies you might not normally use, you might score very nicely :). The fish have seen just about everything that the fly fishing industry has to offer. So put yer thinking cap (beer helmet) on and get to it. Also the occasional flying ant has been fishing very well lately with that size 14-16 guy flying around in the late afternoon to evening. Some of us here have been using the Royal Wulffs and trudes sizes 12-16 for the ant and doing well.                                                                                       

There has been a larger heavy spinner fall late in the evenings too over the past few days and the Delektable Teasers in Purple and Adams (size 14) have been the ticket for some of us here at the tooth.                                                                                                                                                        

We have had some great groups going out with us lately including a group of all ladies. One of the ladies boats did well with Chubbies and Flying Ants. When Skill levels range across the board, the guys are trying a variety of patterns to help with the casting and with the catch. It                                                         

remains very warm in the middle of the day with mornings and evenings the preferred fishing time. We have a fire near us called the Eureka Fire. For information on that fire go to inciweb.org.                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Delektable Crew

These past few days on the Maddy the fish have been torturing the nocturnal stone, which is out, and we in return have been testing their decision making skills with our version of the nocturnal! Chubby’s cousin (Gang Green) tied special here in the shop for our guides in the size 14 dry hook seems to be the ticket for right now. Along with the hopper, lots and lots of browns have been taken on this fly in the early to late morning with a lightning bug or some flavor of size 16 nymph below it. Hopper fishing is very good to great right now, so get out your hoppers and throw ‘em! Pearl or Silver lightning bugs (size 18) have been the most productive dropper. The traditional bugs like the prince nymph, the pheasant tail and the hare’s ear nymphs have still been producing average fish.  Best luck is in the morning with the cooler air and water. Look out for those sprucies, they are on their way!! Best of luck, Happy Fishing!!!

Big Dan, Marty and Dan G