The Madison in the Park has had a great fall so far, and with the impending weather change, there may be a tough few days, but next week should be even better.  Fall run-ups (both Browns and Rainbows) are all over the river right now and have been hesitant to really bite as long as the bright sunshine has been on the water.  They should be more interested in streamers once the cold, cloudy weather arrives sometime on Thursday.

Right now, however, fishing has been good in the mornings and evenings, so don’t feel bad about taking a break midday and heading into West for some lunch.  You’ll need to fuel come evening.  Terrestrials are definitely waning, and will be on the way out with the coming cold weather, but the fish should still be attuned to them at least for the next couple of days.  Try Hoppers, Ants, and Beetles in the afternoon and early evening.

Really, a great way to fish the Madison is swinging Soft Hackles.  Evening Caddis are still sporadically coming off – be sure to come prepared, because if you catch one of these hatches, you want to be ready to fish immediately… it’s that good.  Streamers will certainly be more and more important also. 

Flows today (0600) are 414 cfs, with today’s average 418 cfs on the gage near West Yellowstone.

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Flies to Have in the Box

Dries:  baetis - BWO, Blue Dun, Olive Sparkle Dun, Comparadun, Fall baetis Sparkle Dun, Para-Adams; Caddis - EHC, X Caddis, Electric Caddis, EC Caddis, CDC Caddis, Spent Caddis - tan, olive, black; Trico; Midges – your favorites

Nymphs: PT; BHPT; BH Hares Ear, Copper John, olive; BH Prince; Lightning bugs, gold, silver, green/olive;  PMD Wonder nymph, Electric Yellow Micro Mayfly

Terrestrials: Hoppers, beetles, ants, bees

Streamers:  Woolly buggers, brown, yellow, olive, black; Sparkle buggers, same colors; Girdle bug; Zonkers, assorted; your favorites

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