Madison Madness

TIME TO GET IN LINE

A Few Rooms Left

fish eating their way toward sex

LOCAL HOLE ON THE MADISON RIVER

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.. The annual Fall Fishing Frenzy is upon us. It happened slowly this year but it has finally happened.

A FINE MIX

.. Word, somehow, spreads rapidly when the runner population finally reaches a density compatible with success rates higher than steelhead fishing.
.. All the obvious places are now populated with throngs of eager fishers and a few fish from Hebgen Lake. The Madison River is now a destination fishery for headhunters from near and far. Motels are filling up fast.
.. Autumn is an interesting time in this little village. The tourist population takes on a character of a different sort.
.. Since school is back in session, parents of school children are now dealing with backpacks too large for their offspring's back.
.. The geriatric set visits in droves and late visitors from Europe and Asia find the Fall weather appealing.
.. Both fishers of the crusty and gonzo variety are milling around and through the mix of gawkers and walkers.
.. The pubs are full at night. Feather merchants have retained their eager seasonal staff in a final push to enhance the bottom line. Restaurants have added frozen Idaho trout to the menu. 'Tis a scene and sight to behold.
..Catching is not spectacular yet, however it's getting better by the minute. The early morning thundershowers and billowy-clouded overcast has added to the feeling that fish are to be had.

DOLLY LLAMA

.. The "Big 'n' Ugly fly boxes are in profuse abundance and wader tracks are on the floor of the popular trinket shops, restaurants, and pubs. Wader friendly lodging is at capacity and the 'normal' motels are bearing up under the onslaught of spikes, cleats, and muddy felt.
.. Get here now and join the fun. Learn to say "buggers" and "rubber legs" as if you had those words in your normal vocabulary. Don't let your tongue stumble over the syllables in "Cranky Crummy Cricket." or "Gob-O-Worms," or "Dolly Llama."
.. The DOLLY LLAMA is a creation of a fisher from the deep south, (Orem, Utah,) and was featured in the Salt Lake Tribune last year.
.. Curtis Fry provides a tutorial on YouTube for tying this articulated enticer. A few of the neighbors have used it with success, albeit it a hook size or two smaller!
.. Well, the coffee is gone, the rain spots on the windshield have replaced the bug guts and the sun is burning off the mist and fog. It must be time to exercise our park permit.

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THE VIEW TOWARDS THE REAL BAKER'S HOLE

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FALL BECKONS

THE WATER WAITS

We Visit

the fish hide

BAKER'S HOLE ON THE MADISON RIVER
ASTRIDE THE PARK LINE

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.. It's not really a contest. There's no real competition involved. The chatter in the pubs tries to avoid the topic. A nod in the direction of the river is granted.
.. And, the neighbors all have the thought in the back of their minds. Big fish will be in the rivers soon: maybe as we speak, and someone will catch the first one.

MYSTERIOUS PLACE FOR FISH TO HIDE

.. It is really too early, (by a couple of weeks,) but the cool nights and amber meadows demand that the topic of Fall-Run fish be addressed. So it is.
.. Talk centers on the big holes and hides: the flies, the water levels, the water temperature, the news from lake fishers and worm-dunkers.
.. It's a conversation that is inevitable, starting with the invasion of visitors for this long weekend. It's a conversation that won't die with the first snows. It won't die even with the catch of the first submarine of Fall.
.. The pleasant and eager anticipation of the season is throbbing in the souls of fishers next door, down the block, in the surrounding countryside, and in foreign lands such as Idaho and Utah. There are even folks on distant planets such as Los Angeles and Cincinnati and Philadelphia, that feel the pull of the big fish.

TRADITIONAL FALL FAVORITE

.. So be it! Many of the eager neighbors have been practicing with streamers, (and taking good-sized resident fish.) The big holes and undercut banks are being scrutinized with renewed interest.
.. The rivers are rearranged from the prolonged high water of this year. They have been renewed and revitalized. Boulders and cobbles have been rearranged. Traditional holes and hides are different to varying degrees, (some have disappeared or been greatly rearranged.)
.. We speak of Spring as the season of renewal. It may be. Fall is the season of verification of that renewal.
.. So what's the story? The Madison River is still running at about 200 cfs above it's seasonal norm. Undercut banks are deeper and wider. The grass at the river's edge is long and still green - and shows signs of drooping into the water.
.. Fishers on Hebgen Lake are still enjoying gulper fishing. The worm and gear guys report that there are concentrations of large fish in the major arms of the lake. Nothing giant has been reported from the estuaries yet. Stay tuned.

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A GOOD STARTING PLACE FOR FALL FISHING

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Better By The Day

CATCHING IS GOOD

Fishing Is Good

gawking is best

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.. This will be the week for glorious fishing stories. The near-term weather is predicted to be perfect for visiting Yellowstone National Park. There will finally be a day or two with 70° F temperature.

.. The west side rivers are still setting daily discharge records but are clearing rapidly. The meadows are getting dry, the bison are laying in the sun, the mobile condominiums are belching fumes, and tour buses are thick as the spinners falling onto the water.
.. Catching is now possible from sunup to sundown. And the next few days will give us the longest catching opportunities of the year. Sunrise is now about 5:10 AM. Sunset is about 9:15 PM. The watchword now is to use your summer solstice well. Starting next week the days will begin their noticeable shortening - all too rapidly.

.. The Gallatin River is high, cold and clear above Taylor Fork. It's a big nymph and streamer proposition. The local naysayers would have you believe that it's too cold to fish. Best believe them, it leaves more room for the neighbors.
.. The last mile of Duck Creek is at grade and surprisingly clear, It too is a subsurface paradise. Be careful and stay in the legal zone by the water. The bears are congregating in this area. Evening caddis have been spotted around 4:00 PM in this stretch.
.. The Madison River is back within it's banks but the previously flooded meadows are spongy. Discharge is high but not near daily records and there are bugs apparent in the early afternoon. Streamers, big ugly unconventional flies, and drowned flies & nymphs are producing well in the gentle stretches.

.. The snow on Mary Mountain is rapidly melting and Nez Perce Creek is at it's banks. Catching is only fair in the bear infested waters and meadow about 1/2 mile above the bridge. The wildflowers are spectacular though.
.. The Firehole River above the cascades is very clear, cold, swift, and beginning to produce beautiful, hungry, eager, Brook Trout.
.. Below Old Faithful, in it's elbow-ridden stretches it's beginning to show it's summer pattern:
===> Spinners early,
===> Nymphs and emergers at mid day, (all day if you like,)
===> Caddis in the evening,
===> BWO & PMD when you see them,
===> Stonefly & Yellow Sally nymphs, all day,  starting now,
===> Salmon Flies soon, listen to rumors in the pubs.
.. We're headed to the big esses around Baker's Hole. This Madison River water requires a Montana Fishing License and a Yellowstone Park Permit. The water is high, the trails and tracks are muddy, the willows eat your body and gear, and the fish are near the bank and unmolested. It's just too much work for visitors. The fish are way too big for their small rods and dinky nets.

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Pick Your Poison

BIG FISH or MANY FISH

EASY FISH or BIG FLIES

LITTLE FLIES or . . . etc.

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.. It's that time of year. The bug and fish tango has many beats; pick yours and enjoy the dances.
.. Just about all rivers on the west side of Yellowstone National Park are seeing eager fishers and hearing exclamatory whoops of joy and exultation.

.. You may not catch what you are fishing for - but you will catch fish. On the surface, in the film, high column, mid column, or down deep: the fish are eating up a storm.
.. A stupid-silly way to pass a whole day on any of the the rivers would begin with a surface double of a midge cluster and a spent mayfly, (or dredge streamers for the submarines.)
.. By mid morning nymphs, soft hackles, and streamers would bring action. A blooming of bugs will grace the waters shortly after noon, (did you eat lunch?)
.. Midges by the billions and Baetis by the millions will keep the trout rising like popcorn. As the shadows turn to dark, fish some spent mayflies again and deep streamers, (with a Prince Nymph on point.)
.. With just a little luck and perseverance you'll die exhausted and happily fished out. Your arms will ache, your eyes won't focus, (spectacles or not,) and your under things will be wet from the eager sweat and other bodily fluids.
.. About the time you finally drag yourself away from the river, hunger will have turned to starvation that can't be stayed by a simple meal.
.. If you didn't die from exhausted joy on the stream you will order the giant prime rib dinner, baked potato, and Caesar salad; preceded by a shrimp cocktail appetizer with a cold one, and followed by a double helping of cherry cheesecake and two snifters of Kahlua. Coffee and Ice Cream should put the finishing touches on the perfect day.

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.. For day number two, (if you live through day number one,) pick a different spot on the river. The results will be the same.
.. From Baker's Hole to the junction pools on the Madison River there are rises going wanting.
.. For some unknown reason the late Autumn fishers are fewer this year than in recent memory, (just an observation - not a complaint.)
.. The persistent rain (and bits of sleet and snow,) on Sunday was truly a blessing for the trees that are dying of thirst - fishers rejoiced too because the sacred Baetis clouds should continue to allow those that must see their fly fish on the top.

.. The willows below Baker's Hole still hold bears, elk, moose, hunters and very large fish. Only the neighbors dare fish here.
.. Even with the campground gate closed and locked Baker's Hole is a big magnet for fishers this year.
.. The catching has been consistent and the fish are not just long but plump as well. Purple and/or Black Woolly Buggers along with giant soft hackles are the choice here - it's working well.

.. The Madison River inside Yellowstone National Park is yielding good fish. The low, cold water has concentrated the fish in many of the unusual places.
.. Holes and hides are a bit different this year and it's going to take some 'water savvy' to dredge up the runners.
.. Resident fish are thick as . . . well you know!
.. One suggestion: please don't stand in the foam lines or the deep holes. It confuses the poor hungry fish and they have a hard time picking the chow from your mud plume and waders.
.. Whether you know it or not - fish know that those rumpled pajamas that you're wearing are not tree trunks. Standing crotch deep in the Madison River means that you've found where the fish were - just before you got there.

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Saw these dimples. Spent 5 minutes taking pictures of the ones that were readily apparent. Baetis hatching everywhere. Fish moving from hide under the bank to the slick, and taking the bugs right at the shadow line. Was so fascinated that catching was put out of mind. (Click for big image of dimples & such.)  

The Bridge Holes

INTERCEPTION GAUNTLET

The Worms Have It

flies work too

UPPER POOL
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.. The neighbors catch their dinner here. They measure their fish in pounds not inches. They often cast from one side to the other in the Upper and Lower Pools. The stories are legion and legend.
.. Few fishers of the fly stop here; it's a shame. There are fish to be had and they will take flies with enthusiasm. It's almost too easy.

MIDDLE
POOL

.. There are three enormous pools right at the bridge, (Highway 191, just north of West Yellowstone.) One is upstream, one is downstream, and the least fished pool is underneath the bridge itself.
.. This Middle Pool is accessible by walking down to the water between the highway bridge and the snowmachine bridge. Roll casting is lifted to a fine art by those that fish the middle pool, (including - but not limited to - the sidearm underhand surface roller.)
.. Most fish in the Middle Pool hold at it's tail. Takes by these fish are often at the head of the Lower Pool as the fish follows the offering and the streams fan out to fill the deeper water.
.. Some worm fishers use a five-foot long ultralight spinning rod with 4# test and fly-line a worm with no weight to the main stream of the current.
.. Worms sink slowly when presented this way. Fish follow the offering, (the bail on the spinning reel is open,) until the current slows down and fans out - then a splashy grab follows. The astute spin fisher rapidly takes a turn on the reel and then gently lifts the line - sound familiar?
.. Some of the neighbors carry both an ultralight spinning rod and a very long 5-weight fly rod, over-lined by one - with a level line. Their technique is very similar with either rig. They cast upstream, (under the snowmachine bridge,) nearly to the tail of the Upper Pool. Then they mend and/or strip as necessary to allow the offering to follow the tricky currents affected by the pilings and the irregular bottom. As the fly/worm reaches mid-way in the pool they lift to remove slack and drag.

We'll return 'em if you claim 'em

.. Then on to the tail! The finger action is a bit of legerdemain as the fly line must be rapidly retrieved & released, (" . . . remember the figure 8 twist?") or, the bail must be closed and then re-opened. It's not something that we've mastered with either rig, but many of the neighbors do it well with both rigs. Fish get caught!
.. If the worms don't do it a bright monster Stimulator or a local Bugger are used.
.. Although there are many 'DINKS' holding under the bridges, there are fish to 20" regularly taken here. This is also one of the favorite parking places for runners from Hebgen Lake.

Fish Take,
(note foam line - click for larger.)

.. The shelter of the bridges, the well defined streams and currents, and the concentration of foodstuffs is mightily attractive to submarines of the Madison River variety.
.. The Lower Pool is usually the most popular with the neighbors. It's longer, wider and deeper. It has two main arms with a shallow bar in mid-stream just below the bridge.
.. Either arm can be, and usually is, fished from either side by the gear folks. Visiting fly fishers often wade into the depths and kick mud in the face of the fish.
.. The resident fish are pretty uniformly distributed throughout the Lower Pool. Gear folks make repeated casts and cover the depths with studied regularity. The big fish, (runners right now,) are concentrated in the deepest portions and near the head in deep water.

TREKKER PARKING

.. It's not really possible to pinpoint the exact locations because changes in flow rearrange the bottom as the water fans out from the constricted venturi of the bridge crossing. Here today, there tomorrow, don'tcha' know?
.. These three pools are heavily fished: 'pounded' is the technical term! They are on the road, easily accessible, and frequented by both neighbors and visitors.
.. The fish don't get much chance to rest and many are taken home as guests for dinner. This is a gauntlet that the Fall runners from Hebgen Lake must face before even getting to the park water.
.. Of course, the other easily accessible water is at Baker's Hole. The campground road is now closed for the season - BUT, it's not a far trek to the good holding water. There are several access points that are well known to visitors and neighbors alike.
.. Happily, Hebgen Lake is an excellent environment for growing fish. The population is healthy, and many submarines make it past the eager bridge-fishers and into Yellowstone National Park.

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'GEAR GAL' on Lower Pool.
Takes a few home for the neighbors.