The Upper Madison . . .

[El General]

I am going to be in Ennis the last week of June. The trip has been planned for a while, so I am locked into that date. With the huge snowpack this year, and all the rain the area is getting now, do y'all think the runoff will have cleared by then?

Do you have any suggestions for fishing in the area if the runoff is still going strong? I have looked into a few spring creeks (Milesnick, Depuy, Armstrong, and Nelson) and we were planning on a trip to Henry's Fork anyway. Will other area rivers be clear before the Madison?

Regards,

EG

 

[Davo]

Try contacting the orvis shop in Ennis. They will have the most accurate info.

 

[Biggie]

EG,
The madison will still be very high by the end of the month but it should be clearing and starting to fish. The Salmonflies have been a couple of weeks early the past ten years because of the low water but in the old days when flows were high we generally saw some bugs by the end of the month either below town in the wade fishing section near Valley Garden or even as high as Varney Bridge above town. Before a wife and children we used to camp out in Ennis for the 4th of July and spent most of our days floating from Mac to Varney because the bugs were in that section.
The Lower Madison will also be a good option if you are on foot. The flows will be high but it is a very wade fishing friendly area with access roads on both sides of the river and most of the 6 mile section between the mouth of the Bear Trap Canyon downstream to Blacks Ford are 99 percent BLM or state Land. There should be good caddis hatches along with PMD's and Yellow Sallies. There will probably be hoards of folks on the upper, especially if the Salmonflies are hatching and the Lower River will be a ghost town with some very good dry fly fishing.
The waters in the Park should also be fishing very well with PMD's and Caddis if you need some other options. The spring creeks will be good as well but they are a bit of a drive from Ennis. The MZ Ranch will have good fishing on the two spring creeks but they are very challenging to fish. The best fishing on the MZ is actually on the East Gallatin and it may very well still be high and dirty because the Bridgers still have a lot of snow on the Bozeman side of the range and skiers are still able to hike and ski over half of the mountain at Bridger Bowl right now.
The Bighole and Beaverhead are other options if you are staying in Ennis and they would be a similiar drive to getting over to the Paradise Valley Spring creeks.
Good luck with your trip and if you have any questions or want more detailed information on areas please feel free to IM me.

Biggie

 

[fyshstykr]

E.G.
Another option would be Henry's Lake or Hebgen Lake(Gulpers), they both fish pretty well in the earlier morning hours, and can be reached within an hour of Ennis.

The timing could be about right for the famed Green Drake hatch or the Flav hatch( I love Flavs ) on Henry's Fork. P.M.D's will definately be going on the Ranch section of Henry's, with Spinner falls in the evening.

 

[El General]

E.G.
Another option would be Henry's Lake or Hebgen Lake(Gulpers), they both fish pretty well in the earlier morning hours, and can be reached within an hour of Ennis.

The timing could be about right for the famed Green Drake hatch or the Flav hatch( I love Flavs ) on Henry's Fork. P.M.D's will definately be going on the Ranch section of Henry's, with Spinner falls in the evening.

We are definitely going to spend one day at least on the Henry's Fork, and maybe more if the Madison is blown out.

 

[El General]

We are leaving Wednesday morning, and it looks like the upper Madison is going to be blown out while we are there. The salmonflys should be in Beartrap, and between Quake and Hebgen is supposedly fishing good.

We booked a guide for Thursday on the Henry's Fork, and we may fish down there another day if we figure things out in the Ranch. Anybody have any news on what is coming off down there? Are the salmonflys done in the Box? Have the Green Drakes started in the Ranch? Any tips on wade fishing down there in areas besides the Ranch would be appreciated.

Biggie, any information on wading the Beaverhead would be helpful. I have read that the best acess for wading is to hike from Grasshopper, but I don't know anything about the river at all.