Float Trip on the Madison, September 11th

Ted working a seam, just below Lyons Bridge

The Madison River becomes a tailwater below Hebgen Lake, a huge impoundment just outside Yellowstone’s western border. Ted and I fished it from a driftboat last month. Geoff Unger from Blue Ribbon Flies was our guide. Martin Van Fossan and I did this trip with Geoff in 2004 when Martin introduced me to Yellowstone country. It was Ted’s first driftboat trip, he was as excited as a kid at Christmas.

Tailwater trout fishing is a welcome byproduct of dams built for flood control and irrigation. The constant release of cold water from a reservoir’s depths creates great trout habitat. On this stretch of the Madison, nature adds miles of steep gradient. The result is ‘the fifty mile riffle’ all the way to Ennis, its fast water and boulder bottom full of trout.

Brown trout under a cloudless sky

We fished the stretch from Lyons Bridge to the Palisades about an hour northwest of West Yellowstone. Lyons Bridge is the upstream limit for driftboat fishing, the stretch above is reserved for wade fishing all the way to Quake Lake. Close to ten boats launched from the ramp while we were getting ready, but the river’s wide expanse and fast current quickly dispersed all the anglers.

Conditions were with us. Water temperatures had dropped from summer highs thanks to cooler daytime temperatures (Geoff said that water temperatures are the critical factor in fish and insect activity). A cool breeze all day had the river’s insect population active. Though a cloudless day, smoke from all the western wildfires put a haze in the air.

Ted with a nice rainbow trout

Big mountain whitefish, good fight

A driftboat is a great fishing tool, especially in the hands of a capable guide like Geoff who knows a river’s fishing so well. The boat gives casting and fish-fighting advantages that wade fishing doesn’t, and you cover so much more prime fish-holding cover. On the Madison, fishing from a driftboat is like nature’s video game…constant action on a current speed of six miles an hour that carries the boat along at a fast clip (“Cast here! Cast there!”). We fished indicator rigs the whole day using a big stonefly nymph along with something small to imitate the small mayflies that were on the water.

It was a banner day of fishing, nearly constant action from ten until five. We caught nice brown and rainbow trout, mountain whitefish, even two beautiful cutthroat trout. Ted and I each had a couple of chances at big fish, but they got back to the bottom before getting to the net. I muffed the hookset on a beautiful rainbow right off the bank within five minutes of launching. What seemed like minutes later, Ted lost a big brown that came barreling out of a deep run the moment it felt the hook. Later in the day, we each lost a nice fish after fighting it for a while. Each time, Geoff chided us for dropping the rod tip too much.

Ted & Geoff, end of a great day

It was the kind of fishing day that makes the price of guide and boat so worth it. I can’t wait to go again.