Fly Fishing the Madison River in Early July 2024

We have been fly fishing the Madison River in early July 2024 and it’s been HOT! Not the fishing…the temperature! I’m guessing you experienced the same high temperatures where you live too. But here we are, enjoying the wade section which includes $3 Bridge, West Fork, and Lyon’s Bridge. The elevation is just over 6,000 feet, so when temperatures get over 90 degrees, it’s very hot!

We time our arrival on the Madison River to coincide with the Caddis hatch. It’s a favorite of ours and we’ve had some great fishing the last few years. Check out my Fly Fishing Road Trips page for my posts.

Our typical day finds us at the river in the morning between 7:30 – 8:00 am. We’ll fish for several hours and return to the campervan between noon and 1:30 pm. After taking a break, we return to the river for the evening fishing.

The first couple of days fishing $3 Bridge, we found a few fish rising. Before our arrival, I reviewed previous posts I’ve written from the last several years here fly fishing the Madison River to refresh my memory about the flies that worked for us. Here are three of our favorites…

Our first full day of fishing was on 7/5.

I had a few fish rise to the X Caddis, missing some nice ones. Further down the river, I hooked and landed a couple with the X Caddis. Dancingtrout hooked a few in the morning and landed 2.

Later that evening, we seemed to get back in the groove. I tied on a #16 Sparkle Dun March Brown to imitate the Epeorus mayfly and took this Brown trout.

Dancingtrout landed this Rainbow.

Fish began to rise in the faster water, and I waded a little farther out to get a better cast and drift…and hooked up.

Not the biggest Rainbow, but it put up a great fight.

The next morning found us upstream from $3 Bridge. Again, we didn’t see a lot of fish rising. We usually arrive before 8 am and have found fish willing to take our flies. Many have shown themselves to us when they rise for an insect floating downstream. But it had been hot, and we didn’t observe a lot of insects on the water.

When one rose, we found a willing fish eat our flies. We caught some beautiful fish that morning.

And a Brown I landed.

In the evening, we decided to fish around Lyon’s Bridge and see what we could find.

Caddis were flying in the air, but very few fish were showing themselves. We hoped tomorrow would be better.

Another slow morning was in store for us, but this Brown trout made it worthwhile!

After our usual mid-day break, we were ready for the evening hatch. I found a nice Rainbow sipping something in a side channel and hooked and landed this fish on the second cast.

Dancingtrout landed this beautiful Rainbow.

This serene image is why we enjoy fishing this beautiful river. The spots in the sky are Caddis flying.

The following morning, we tried our hand on Hebgen Lake. Our friend Dick took us to a spot where we waded, hoping to find “gulpers”. They are trout sipping Callibaetis mayflies. It is early in the season for a decent hatch, and we never really had a chance to hook up.

That evening, we hooked and landed a few in the 4 – 7 inch range, but I was lucky to hook and land this nice Brown. Where are the fish we usually hook?

Another slow morning followed.

We watched for fish, but very few were showing. A couple rose to our flies, but we weren’t able to hook them.

The evening fishing was a zoo! I did manage to land one fish.

There were so many people, we just sat and watched the river go by. Perhaps tomorrow would be better.

Again, not many fish showing themselves, but a couple did and they are VERY nice trout.

This Brown trout made it worthwhile!

Fish had stopped rising to Caddis for us. We wondered what it was like last week.

Remember that Sparkle Dun? We caught most of our fish on that fly. My RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple also hooked a couple, either the PMD version or the March Brown color. Again, I think the March Brown color was imitating the Epeorus spinner. I tried Rusty Spinners, but never had a rise on it.

We talked with another fly fisher who had a great morning with Caddis imitations. He wasn’t casting to rising fish, but they took his fly anyway. I wonder what was he was doing differently?

We observed Caddis flying around and Salmonflies and Golden Stones in the bushes. Our experience from fishing the Madison for a few years is the fish don’t seem to key on either and this year was no exception. We threw a couple in and not one fish rose to eat them. In fact, I saw one floating downstream and stopped fishing to see if a fish would rise…nope. Another floated down the river and I saw a fish rise to the fly and refuse to eat it. We call those “drive byes.”  

In previous years, Caddis has been the name of the game for us.

A couple days later, we were sitting along the bank waiting for rising fish to show themselves. A Golden Stone floated by and we watched a fish eat it. Dancingtrout tied on a Clark’s Lady Stone, but the fish didn’t fall for it.

It was certainly different from previous years.

Having shared our relatively slow fishing, I need to relate a story where the fishing gods provided a great evening of fishing.

I’ve been writing this blog for over 10 years now. In addition, I post on Facebook and Instagram. I’d seen someone “like” one of my recent images on Instagram and noted he lived in the Bozeman area. I contacted him and we agreed to try and meet on the river one evening.

Nick met us below $3 Bridge around 7:30 that evening. He is a pleasant young man who started a website and blogs occasionally…sound familiar? You can read his work on The Curious Angler website or his Instagram HERE. I encourage you to check it out.

Dancingtrout and I were already fishing when he arrived. In fact, we had landed a couple of nice trout using the #16 Sparkle Dun mentioned above.

We chatted along the river as we got to know each other.

For some reason, fish had been rising and I pointed to one and encouraged Nick to give it a try. I had already shared a few flies with him, so he tied on the Sparkle Dun we had been successful with and quickly hooked up…and so did Dancingtrout in the run below us.

A Madison River double doesn’t happen often, at least for us!

Of course, Dancingtrout had the larger trout!

I hooked one a little later in the fast water.

And Nick and Dancingtrout hooked more fish while I took pictures!

It was a pleasure getting to know you and fishing with you Nick!

Yes, the fishing gods smiled down on us that evening!

The water level has been good, and the dam operators increased flows as temperatures increased. Parts of Montana are in hoot owl restrictions, meaning fishing is restricted after 2 pm or on some water, closed all together. It might be another long summer with extended restrictions.

Here are a few observations from the last week.

• I mentioned it was very busy on some days and we’d see about 25 cars parked on both sides of the bridge. Other days, we arrived at the river and only saw 2. We wondered if the word spread quickly on how the fishing was, either good or bad.
• We haven’t seen fish rising in our normal runs or raised them.
• The temperatures are cooling a bit, and we hope to see more fish rising as a result. At least we hope that is the case!

Regardless, we are in a beautiful place and are lucky to find a trout occasionally that makes our day.

Enjoy…go fish!