Category: Upper Madison River

Today was a great day on the water. It really didn’t start picking up at all until about 11am, but when it turned on, it really turned on! The boys had a great day of catching. When one wasn’t catching fish, the other was! We got some pictures, but they wanted to quit taking pictures and just keep catching. The best combo was the Girdle Bug size 8 and the size 16 Olive Micro Mayfly. We floated from Storey Ditch to 8 Mile Ford and it was gooood!

Brandon

We had a really nice day with Jim and Lee from Windy to McAtee. Similar bug choices and nice fish. Fun day! Enjoy the photos and the smiles!

Marty

It was one of those days in the west where the wind decided to blow. We fought the good fight, the boys fished all day and we rowed hard! We caught fish because the effort was put forth. It was pioneer spirit at its best!

Big Dan 

The morning was super slow with only a few fish, with small nymphs behind the streamers. but it picked up in the afternoon with dries. Fat Albert in red, size 12, Royal Cripple 16, and ants around 2:00pm. Twitching and swinging seemed to be the ticket.

Marty and Jim M

The Fully Wild group is out again! This go ‘round the fish are definitely eating a little better. The cold snap and the snow in the air have let the fish know it’s time to fatten up soon. Some

patterns that have been hot are the big nymphs in 6’s and 8’s such as the Girdle Bug and the Delektable Mega Prince. Smaller nymphs are the size 14 Pearl Lightening Bug, the Delektable Lil’ Spanker size 14, Pheasant Tail soft hackle size 16 and the famous Prince nymph sizes 14 and 16. The streamer bite has really been on lately with the bunny fur! By now I hope you are practicing up with yer streamer tactics because they are just absolutely slamming the streamer! The streamer bite has been on for most of the day with 1pm-3pm being the slowest. But, that afternoon slot has started back with hoppers and ants, so go figure! For Streamer fishing, the evenings have been the best here at the Tooth for us after work with black, olive and white articulated streamers. We hope you enjoy the pictures, and as always, Happy Fishing!!! DanG

Today with the temps dropping and the water temp staying below 62 degrees, it was a good evening for the Beartooth crew. Daniel and DanG went out for a few short hours and it was good, constantly catching fish with a few good browns. The flies they were hitting

involved meat AND potatoes. Streamers for Daniel and nymphs for DanG. Dark coneheaded streamers and dark bigger nymphs. It was really on from 5pm to 8pm. They also destroyed the Copper Zonker. Happy Fishing!!!

DanG

As we move into the fall with the cold snaps in the weather the fish start gearing back towards the larger nymph patterns like the mega prince #10, standard prince #8-12 and bigger mayfly patterns than the 16’s and 18’s you have been using. The 12’s thru 16’s are going to be the ticket now. They are still going to hit the little ones, but they are

 definitely going to be hitting the bigger ones now. They are soon to be pressured less and less and be more apt to hit the bigger bugs you might rather like to fish. Of course the streamers are doing very well now with the cloud coverage and the little bit of rain we’ve been getting. The streamer/nymph combo has been the best setup as of late to use. Black, olive, white and tan have been great colors for streamers in different varieties such as Sculpzilla, Trevor’s Scuplin, Sheila, Bow River and the Delektable Screamer. The Zonker #8 Copper has proven true over and over this past week, also cone-headed darker ones have been good. Some nymphs that have been working have been the prince, the nymphicator, the guide’s choice hare’s ear, Delektable Lil’ Spankers (most colors), lightening bugs, and copper johns to be specific. Chartreuse is a great color right now to for the nymphs. The wet stone fly pattern in the picture is imitating the actual stone fly that is down there (as you can see), and different colors of dark are working (brown and black). The dries we have been getting them on are hoppers, ants (royal trude), mayflies (14-18) and caddis. Some fish are still being taken on the Chubby and bigger dry fly stone patterns. Like I mentioned before, thinking outside the boat will get you there! Happy Fishing!!!

DanG

Dan Greene and I took a birthday float for me yesterday. We put in at Windy at first light and floated to Storey by dark. It was a nice loooong day filled with cold drinks, great laughs and tight lines! First we threw streamers with nymphs trailing; we picked them up on the small nymphs. We did not however crush the huge fish we set out to get, but we did get the smaller fish all day. We changed flies all day long getting about one fish per fly. It was never consistent throughout the day on a single fly, but constantly changing up did do the trick. We hooked up on streamers, but never landed any. We got them on hoppers and small dries. We really got them on small nymphs. We got them on just about everything. Boats would come by and ask what fly we were using, so we said…all of them. We did get a lunker whitefish too. All said and done, another great day well spent on the Madison!

Dave

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