Full-Day Float on the Madison River

About this trip

People call the upper Madison the fifty-mile riffle and it is a fair description. Between Quake Lake and Ennis the river is one long braided run with very little slack water, which means fish can be almost anywhere and the ones that are feeding are feeding hard. It is the most famous trout water in Montana for good reason, and it is also more difficult than its reputation suggests, because reading water that all looks the same takes time. We float it in a drift boat and fish from the boat almost the whole way, pulling over to wade the occasional inside bend when something is happening worth standing still for. The classic rig is a salmonfly or a big attractor dry with a nymph underneath. Late June and early July bring the salmonfly hatch, which is the event people plan whole trips around. Enormous bugs, enormous eats, and a river full of boats. August settles down into terrestrials and is my favourite month to fish it. September and October give you fewer people, cooler water, and browns that are getting territorial. The fish are wild rainbows and browns and they fight above their weight in that current. Sixteen inches on the Madison feels like twenty somewhere else. There are genuinely big fish here but they are not the point. The point is a river that gives you a hundred good shots in a day and punishes a sloppy drift on every one of them. This is a working float and a long one. If you have never cast from a boat you will spend the first hour learning, and that is fine, but you should be able to put a fly forty feet with some accuracy before we start. Two anglers, rotating bow and stern. Species: wild rainbow and brown trout. Season: late June through October; salmonflies late June into early July, terrestrials in August, streamers in the fall. Meeting point: Lyons Bridge access, 7:30am, off around 4:30pm. Experience level: intermediate. This is not the river to learn to cast on.

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10-day forecast

What's included

• Drift boat and all rowing
• Rods, reels and lines if you need them
• All flies, tippet and leader
• Streamside lunch, snacks and drinks
• Shuttle between put-in and take-out

What to bring

• Montana fishing license
• Polarized sunglasses, which are safety gear in a boat rather than an accessory
• Rain shell and a warm layer, the valley gets weather fast
• Sun hoody, hat and sunscreen
• Buff or neck gaiter for wind