Fly Fishing input needed.....

[Arcticfox]

Greetings all:

I'm posting today in the hopes of getting some input on fishing the Madison River at Ennis Montana. We're planning a trip there this fall (mid Sept) and I've started looking at possible wading access points and even good boondocking locations if anyone has camped in that area. I note that many drift fish this river and there seems to be boats for rent. We might very well do that for a couple days but we plan to be there a week to 10 days so wading is more of an option with our longer stay.

Thanks in advance for any input you can give us....

Cheers

Doug

[gpershall]

Following... we love to fly fish and hoping to buy our first AS soon.

[Charlie M]

Just logging on to thread to monitor the Rand Mc Nally Gang.

[pappy19]

I was a fly fishing guide back in the mid-1970's for The Trout Shop in West Yellowstone MT. I floated that stretch of the Madison many times. I would highly recommend that you hire a guided one day float trip. You can fish and your companion can either fish or just sit back and enjoy the float. The guide will stop at various spots and you can fish and he will show you what flies to use. Most of the Madison runs through private lands and is not accessible to the public. Renting a boat is an option, but you will new 2 vehicles or make arrangements for pickup and getting the boat back to the rental place. August is a good time to fish the area, but make reservations now. Don't wait until you get there or you will be disappointed.

[MIFC]

We've been going to this area for a 2-3 weeks at a time every summer for the past 15 years or so, almost solely to fly fish.

It is good advice to find a guide to float the river to get the lay of the land; the best fishing is from the "Slide" area (where US 20 hits 287) up to Ennis. North of Ennis (after Beartrap Canyon) the river is much shallower and slower. It gets warm in the dead of summer and there seem to fewer big trout there than the section that is South of Ennis. You also have to compete with tubers if the weather is warm. On the other hand, there are quite a few BLS campgrounds in that area.

The Fly Shops in Ennis, Slide Inn, and West Yellowstone will be a great help in letting you know conditions and which flies are hot; that lower area of the river is also subject to some temperature fluctuations depending upon the flow of the water coming downstream from the Hebgen Lake Dam. (the Madison runs North)

While there is private land to deal with as Pappy says, there are several access sites where you can get in the water and hike up or downstream. Our favorites are 3 Dollar Bridge (yes a donation is appreciated) Reynolds Pass, and Varney Bridge, but there are fish at any of the spots all the way to Ennis.

One thing that has changed in the last several years is the popularity of fly fishing and the Madison River. One reason you need to hike is that at prime time there can be a lot of people on the river. In September you will still have some fantastic fishing, with fewer people competing for the good runs.

We haven't taken our Airstream out there yet as we have a place in the next valley to the East near the Gallatin River. However, I know there are RV campgrounds in Ennis as well a couple as you go South on 287 past Cameron. There are also are also some Federal Land boondocking sites back in off 287 by Wade Lake. If you're going to use those, you will have to accept some dust and stones being thrown at your trailer as they are back a few miles on a gravel road.

We are planning to take our trailer out there for the first time this summer. I mentioned the Gallatin River earlier, also a good fishery, though the fish on average are smaller than the Madison. It is a different type of scenery though, so a cool experience to fish in the canyon area. You are also in relatively close range of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho. There are some prime fishing and camping spots near Island Park and my favorite little berg, Last Chance. The fish on the Henry's Fork are finicky, but it is thrill when you finally hook one. Yellowstone Park is also close, but we avoid it like the plague in the summer. Slough Creek and Soda Butte over in the NE part of the park are great places to catch Cutthroats

Sorry to ramble on, but we have spent a lot of time out there in this area and we love it (despite the fact that Bozeman and Big Sky have far too many people in them these days). I tell my boss every year that if I find something even close to paying the bills out there, I'm not coming back.

Have fun!

Oh, and take your bear spray . . .

[gpershall]

Great info... now all we gotta do is decide to buy the AS...

[Tim A.]

You have already gotten good advice, but having spent many Septembers on the approximate 50 miles of the Madison between Ennis on the north and Hebgen Lake on the south, perhaps I can add something useful. In that stretch are a number of public access points and they are quite well marked. You can walk up and downstream from them. The fishing can be good, but challenging, at any of them. Not necessarily physically challenging, but the many fish present don't always cooperate!

My wife and I wade fish exclusively and almost only with dry flies, but nymphing is very popular. Nothing wrong with having a guide and floating, but it is not a necessity, especially if you have more than a couple of days.

Non-commercial camping is possible (as MIFC says) at Cliff and Wade Lakes, but there are also spots across the West Fork Bridge which are called the West Fork Madison Dispersed Sites Campground. Those sites are almost directly on the Madison. Ennis has a state campground. The Beaver Creek Campground next to Quake Lake is, I think, the southernmost non-commercial campground in the 50 mile stretch. Look here for more info: https://www.campendium.com/montana/ennis.

Commercial camping, listed north to south, is available in Ennis, at the Driftwaters Resort, and Slide Inn (called Galloup's Slide Inn on Google Maps). If it gets cold, which is very possible in September, commercial hookups can be nice.

Tim

[MIFC]

Tim,

Good call on the West Fork sites, I had heard such a thing existed in the area but didn't know the name or location.

Greg

[Piggy Bank]

Following. In my imagination I am retired and doing this.
In reality I have at least a decade until this comes to pass.

[pappy19]

If you really want to experience the wild of Yellowstone and probably the least fished river in that entire area, then go to Ashton, Idaho and drive to the Bechler Ranger Station located in the SW corner of the park. About a mile walk or less will put you into the most unknown portion of the Park and the best native cut throat trout fishing imaginable. Like was said too, the Island Park area down by the Railroad Ranch is a waders paradise.

[GettinAway]

Mike Lawson's shop in Last Chance ID took me on two fantastic days of fishing about five years ago. In between I tried to wade in a few places. I caught some fish on the Madison, but the wading was tough. The current was just too strong where we were fishing. I look for smaller water, that may require more hiking to get to. (It also helps me to find less "experienced" fish.)
Those bigger rivers, at least for me, were tough to fish unless I was in a boat. I'll definitely be back there though. The fishing was fantastic. Trout like to hang out in nice places.

[Wayne&Sam]

If you want to be close to Ennis and boondock, check Valley Garden Campground off Jeffer Rd. It's a state campground, no reservations. Not fancy but right on the river and only a few dollars a night. Cliff and Wade Lakes sites are mostly very small and many are difficult to access. They are about 5 miles up a dusty, washboarded road. So you have that drive every time to go fishing elsewhere. The lakes are gorgeous however and worth a look.

[shineybullet]

The wife and I got hooked so bad unto fly fishing years ago after watching A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT that we spent all our vacation fishing in Montana well after about 3 years we started looking for a piece of property we could buy to park an rv
One day we drove from Bozeman to Ennis when we drove into the town of Ennis we were hooked ,we found out at that time property was pretty cheap there so we bought 5 acres about 1/2 mile from the Madison , I put in a septic system ,brought in power and had a well drilled ,my own rv pad
Then we started fishing lakes with our blow up plontoon boats ,much much bigger fish we like Clark canyon reservoir by Dillion great camping there and you have the beaver head river there also. My favorite fishing spot in the whole state is the BLACKFOOT Indian reservation my largest rainbow there weighed over 9lbs
Don't limit yourself to the Madison River ,the beaver head , big horn, galliton ,big hole are just as good or maybe even better
MONTANA Is my FLYFISHING MECCA
If you need any detailed info please don't hesitate to IM me
BULL DOG BOB

[Riverdrifter]

Originally Posted by pappy19

If you really want to experience the wild of Yellowstone and probably the least fished river in that entire area, then go to Ashton, Idaho and drive to the Bechler Ranger Station located in the SW corner of the park. About a mile walk or less will put you into the most unknown portion of the Park and the best native cut throat trout fishing imaginable. Like was said too, the Island Park area down by the Railroad Ranch is a waders paradise.

I'll second that! I have also had some fantastic fishing in the float from Warm Springs to Ashton on the HF. Nice fly shop in Ashton to check out. We usually stay at Aspen Acres RV Park. Good location and very private campsites. Also we like camping at the Lions Bridge campground on the Madison. Lots of great fly fishing all around there!

[B00merang]

Let me recommend a great, clean campground to you at one of the take-outs....Palisades CG. Located about 12 miles south of Ennis (a great town built around fishing the Madison). Enjoy. jon

[Off-we-go]

Heading in that direction in early May. How is the fishing in May?

[fly2fsh]

check out the SlideInn web page they have RV sites with full hook ups

[MIFC]

Originally Posted by Off-we-go

Heading in that direction in early May. How is the fishing in May?

It depends on how much snowpack there was the previous winter, and how much of that runoff they are letting out of Hebgen Dam. The water can be really fast, high, and cloudy/muddy in the spring. From what I've read snowpack was at 120% of average this year, so a little higher than normal. There are many parts of the Madison that are very difficult to wade in mid-summer, so runoff wading is probably quite a challenge.

The murky water and relatively cool temps mean very little dry fly action. In general (and of course every year is a little different) the dry fly fishing doesn't pick up until mid-late June.

For information more specific than that you could call one of the fly shops in Ennis, any one of them can give you the skinny. They usually have blogs as part of their websites that will be updated with current conditions as well.

[silverlabs]

Some great information already on this thread. Thanks Doug for starting. Following.

Chuck

[pappy19]

On the Madison, early fishing is good using stonefly nymphs and a Bitch Creek wooly buffer. Because the water is swift, use lead wire and wrap enough to get it down. Use the Charles Brooks method of fishing it albiet, shorter leader and about 8lb test. Read his book, Nymph Fishing For Larger Trout, and any of Bud Lilly's books.