Counting today there are just four more days left in the Park season.
Four more days.
Four more days in what has been one of the better ‘west side of the Park’ seasons in recent memory.
The Madison continues to fish well to say the least. With 4-5 inches of snow in Bozeman this morning, I’m guessing that WY and the river corridor have had some snow. No matter, you need to go. There probably won’t be the gorgeous sun reflection on the Madison that we saw on Saturday given today’s overcast – there’s an angler in the river just off the right hand bank at the apex of the curve – hard to see at this resolution.
At this point it doesn’t seem to really matter where you’re fishing on the Park section of the Madison – there have been crowds in the ‘history holes’ but fish are well spread this year, in good numbers, and feisty.
You can pick your approach to suit your mood (and perhaps how cold your hands are) – traditionalists are stripping streamers of all sorts, though yellow and brown buggers are working well and Blue Ribbon Flies’ newsletter this week suggests a Light Spruce streamer as well. Husky soft hackles (10-14) are working on the swing, and nymphers are having some fun too as evidenced by the picture below.
The One Who Must Be Obeyed and I just happened to catch this fortunate angler and his guide on Saturday with a nice fish on and grabbed a series of shots with the fish being netted, admired and then quickly released. And yes, he was nymphing…..
Just four more days.
The very short remaining Park season is not reason to despair; the Madison between the Lakes and below Quake (even much of the way to Ennis) has been fishing very, very well with Baetis and midges on top and the usual culprits below.
Midmorning Update: I’ve been emailing back and forth with John Juracek in WY this morning, and he noted they did not get snow to speak of. Makes the river look even better for the next few days. Keep an eye on a potential storm with snow Friday / Saturday….
Tags: River - YNP - Madison
