Upper Madison River Fishing Report
Upper Madison River Fishing Report
4/25/2025
Be sure you've purchased your 2025 fishing license before heading out on the water! You can get a new license here.
Keep an eye out for spawning fish this time of year. If you see a fish sitting in shallow water on top of gravel that looks cleaner than the rest of the river bottom be sure to leave it alone, DO NOT try and catch that fish, that fish wants to make more fish for us!
Walk Wade Stretch (Between the Lakes, Upriver of Lyon's Bridge, Downriver of Ennis):
The week ahead on the Upper Madison River is looking like some prime fishing! The forecast is showing temps in the high 40s and even breaking the 50 degree mark occasionally with a chance of precipitation on all days. This is going to be prime for Blue Winged Olive hatches as long as the wind doesn't blow too hard.
Throwing a nymph rig that uses a larger pattern like a rubber legs or leech paired with a midge or mayfly emerger is going to produce opportunities all day long. If you get tired of catching fish under an indicator pay attention to the soft water below gravel bars or behind boulders and look for rising fish. These trout are happy to rise to a BWO even if they aren't hatching super hard. headhunting in the walk wade stretches for rising fish can make an awesome day on the river even better.
Streamer fishing is a great option especially with the weather forecast showing cloud cover for most days ahead. When there's good cloud cover, the streamer fishing, as well as the dry fly fishing, will be very productive because those fish are more willing to move out of protected areas to go feed. Clouds mean comfortable trout, and even if it is raining you should be fishing!
We are getting close to spawning season so be aware when wading that you don't walk across any early season redds. Look out for your fishy friends and make sure you don't keep them from making our future generations of trout!
Float Stretch(Downriver of Lyon's Bridge to Ennis):
All ramps are accessible, the boat ramp in Ennis has just re-opened and is ready for use.
Flows are still in the 900cfs range so there are some rocks and gravel bars that you need to be extra cautious about if you decide to go float. The West Fork of the Madison is not adding any color to the river yet but in the coming weeks if we keep seeing rain and warmer temps it will start adding some murkiness to the river.
Stripping streamers while you are on the move has been fun and pretty productive when you find the right size/color combination.
If you are not seeing those smaller bugs emerge, using midge and caddis larvae and mayfly nymphs will get plenty of attention. We have been liking a worm, leech, or rubber legs as our second fly to a smaller nymph. Using mayfly patterns like a Psycho May, Little Green Machine, or olive hotspot perdigon have produced great results all day. With the current water levels the fish have not been challenging to find, just float where the most water is and you will find some trout no matter what section of the float stretch you are in.
Dry fly opportunity is starting to ramp up, be on the lookout for small black stoneflies size 16-18, Blue Winged Olives, March Browns, and lots of midges.
Dries: Buzzball #18-20, Guide Winna Spinna Trico #20, Brook's Sprout Baetis #18-22, Guide Winna Spinna BWO #18, Captive Dun BWO #18-20, Hi-Vis Parachute Adams #14-18, Garcia's Mini Hot Mayfly(Purple) #16-18, Micro-Chubby(Black, Purple) #18
Nymphs:$3 Dip(Black, Red, Copper) #16-20, Frenchdipity(Peacock, Rust, Black)#16-18, Crystal Dip(Black, Olive) #18-20, Olive or Pearl Perdigon #16-18, Olive Hotspot Perdigon #16-18, Lightning Bugs #16-20, Lite Brite Perdigon (Green) #14-18, Pat's Rubber Legs #10-14
Streamers:Sex Dungeons, Barely Legal, Sparkle Minnows and Zonkers will move fish for you. Play with color and profile every day. Skinny vs. big heads, dark vs. light, etc. Don't be afraid to throw a streamer under your indicator and dead drift it!
New to the Madison? We have guides with 40 plus years of experience fishing the Madison ready to share their knowledge with you. We offer full-day float and walk-wade trips on the Madison River. Don’t need a guide? We have the flies and info to help you be successful on a DIY mission.
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Thanks for checking out our Madison River Fishing Report brought to you from Big Sky, MT.
