MTskibum
Well-known member
All the ice was off of the lower gallatin today, no real slush to deal with. Very fishable. However i did get skunked. I fished it at the missouri headwaters state park. I also drove around and checked out the madison, jefferson, and the Mo, at headwaters, and there is nothing worth your time.
I also checked out the Madison at Cobblestone, and it was almost fishable there. The lower madison should be fishable upstream of greycliff and certainly should be fishable all along Norris Road.
I fished Darlington ditch at the cobblestone, it is a ditch that parrallels the lower madison river that FWP turned into a spring creek. It has flowable water year round. And today it had a midge hatch coming off, so i could even toss some drys. However, i did not catch any on drys, i did however take a few 14-16" browns on red copper john beadhead. Its the second time i fished it. FWP leaves it open year round, however it is also catch and release year round. It also is fairly small water. It cant of been more than 40-80 CFS. Its not an epic fishery, however it is a nice place to go kill an afternoon in the winter.
However i only fished it for a little bit, because I then moved on to the east gallatin
Its pretty much no secret to anyone near bozeman though that the east gallatin is a great winter fishery. Quite a few access points have people on it every weekend in the winter that it is even close to 32. And i have found very few differences between access points, I just jumped on the first one i saw without a person on it and the fishing was great. I fished it about a montha and a half ago and ran into an iceshelf about 1/4 mile into the access point, this week i did not.
However, with the cold snap coming up, it might close down the lower gallitan and the madison outside of the tailwaters next weekend.
East Gallatin should still have a handfull of ice free access points no matter how cold it gets though.
I also checked out the Madison at Cobblestone, and it was almost fishable there. The lower madison should be fishable upstream of greycliff and certainly should be fishable all along Norris Road.
I fished Darlington ditch at the cobblestone, it is a ditch that parrallels the lower madison river that FWP turned into a spring creek. It has flowable water year round. And today it had a midge hatch coming off, so i could even toss some drys. However, i did not catch any on drys, i did however take a few 14-16" browns on red copper john beadhead. Its the second time i fished it. FWP leaves it open year round, however it is also catch and release year round. It also is fairly small water. It cant of been more than 40-80 CFS. Its not an epic fishery, however it is a nice place to go kill an afternoon in the winter.
However i only fished it for a little bit, because I then moved on to the east gallatin
Its pretty much no secret to anyone near bozeman though that the east gallatin is a great winter fishery. Quite a few access points have people on it every weekend in the winter that it is even close to 32. And i have found very few differences between access points, I just jumped on the first one i saw without a person on it and the fishing was great. I fished it about a montha and a half ago and ran into an iceshelf about 1/4 mile into the access point, this week i did not.
However, with the cold snap coming up, it might close down the lower gallitan and the madison outside of the tailwaters next weekend.
East Gallatin should still have a handfull of ice free access points no matter how cold it gets though.
