Wild Trout Fishing on the Madison River, Montana USA

The Madison River is born in Yellowstone National Park, formed by the conjunction of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers. From there it heads off north for 140 miles linking up with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers to form the Missouri. Just outside Yellowstone the Madison has been dammed to form a reservoir known as Hebgen Lake. Shortly after leaving Hebgen the river has been dammed again, not by Man this time, but by Nature: a major earthquake in 1959 caused a landslip that created Quake Lake. From there the river runs unimpeded for some 50 miles to Ennis Reservoir - there are no deep, slow-drifting pools - and throughout this long stretch the waters are fast and in places boulder-strewn.

A fine Madison brown trout caught in fast water

Wading on some stretches is challenging, but fortunately much of the river can be fished from the bank or by stepping into the shallow margins. Drift boats are allowed but they may only be used for getting from place to place: there is no fishing from the boats.

A superb trout from beside an island in the upper
Madison River in Montana

The Wild Trout of the Madison River
Although the Madison is home to several game fish species including Arctic grayling, brook trout, mountain whitefish, rainbow trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout, for us the real attraction is the brilliant brown trout fishing. Fish to well over 20 inches lie against undercut banks and below drop-offs, where they will usually rise to dry flies that match the natural insects on the water; if not, nymph fishing such tricky lies can be great fun but far from easy.

An AFTM #4 or #5 rod is ideal on calm days, but often in the afternoon a stiff prairie wind makes fishing with light tackle very challenging, and then we found a #6 rod a distinct advantage. Tippet strength of 4 lb breaking strain is quite fine enough, and in very fast water something rather stronger is not out of place.

Hebgen Lake
Best fished from a boat, because so much of the margins are either very shallow or heavily tree-lined, this is a wonderful dry-fly fishery. Rainbows and brown trout rise to Callibaëtis - grey-yellow mayflies that hatch in vast numbers from mid morning until the wind rises and effectively kills the fishing, at least as far as small dry flies are concerned. The key to success is to judge the range and direction of rising fish and present your fly on their cruising line the right distance ahead of the previous rise.

Hebgen Lake, in the upper reaches of the Madison River

Accommodation and fishing licences
If you stay at Trouthunter Lodge, in Last Chance (Idaho) you will be ideally situated for fishing on the Henry's Fork and but a forty-minute drive from the Madison. Another option is to stay in one of the hotels in west Yellowstone, which makes the Yellowstone River and upper Madison equally convenient; you would then also have access to the many tributary streams within the Park. Note that separate licences are required for the Park (much of which is in Wyoming), for the rivers of Idaho, and for the rivers of Montana (including the Madison outside of Yellowstone National Park).

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