Madison River
Hebgen Lake-Quake Lake: 8/10/2010
Warm water flowing from Hebgen Dam continues to keep fishing between the lakes from being as good as it should be this time of year. Inconsistent weather has slowed the hopper bite as well. However, fishing hard and covering water with both nymphs and dries can yield some nice fish. Craneflies and Caddis are the most prevalent hatches in the mid and upper sections while Callibaetis are coming off in large numbers at the lower section near the inlet to Quake.
Quake Lake-Lyon Bridge: 8/10/2010
Evening fishing has been slow on the Madison due to massive thunderstorms that have been an almost every day affair. Spinner falls should pick back up when the weather stabilizes. Epeorus, some small PMDs and Caddis are still hatching, though not in numbers we saw in July. Terrestrial fishing should pick up when the sun shines in the afternoons. Small nymphs continue to produce nice fish, even with the stormy weather.
Lyon Bridge to Ennis: 8/10/2010
Hopper fishing has been very good when the weather is sunny but almost non-existent once the storms roll through. Spruce Moths have been sparse but some mornings the fish have targeted them fairly heavily. There are still decent numbers of Epeorus on the water and the fish are eating them pretty well. Fish have also been looking for ants to munch on. Nymphing has been effective in the mornings with the bite tapering off after noon. Small bugs in the #16-20 range have outperformed larger nymphs, though there are nocturnal stonefly shucks all over the rocks these days.
Gallatin River: 8/10/2010
North of the Taylor Fork, the Gallatin has been off color due to all the rain. Look out for some great Spruce Moth fishing when things get back into shape. Caddis, hoppers and ants are all go to flies when the fish start looking up. In the meantime, drifting nymphs is still very productive despite the cloudy flows.
Hebgen Lake: 8/10/2010
Shark Week only lasts 7 days on the Discovery Channel but on Hebgen Lake it lasts throughout the entire month of August. Get your Callibaetis into the tank while the fish are eating. Gulper fishing has been its usual difficult and incredibly rewarding self lately and anglers will have plenty of chances to cast at large consistently rising fish. If casting dry flies to big rising trout isn’t your thing, go ahead and bob up some fish on Chironomid Pupa or Callibaetis nymphs. The fish will certainly eat them readily.