First Signs of Runoff
June 1st, 2019 -
The big water has arrived! Now that the summer weather has finally started to show up the river is steadily on the rise. Flows near Cameron are currently around 2600 CFS with water temps in the mid 50s. The West Fork is starting to dump but there still remains some clean water on river right. Around town the water visibility is still fairly decent with about 1.5-2 feet of visibility but don't expect it to last much longer. As the weather progressively gets warmer expect the flows to increase correspondingly.
The fishing remains consistent with nymphs and streamers being your best bet. Nymph rigs with either a black rubber legs or mega prince as the lead fly and a pink/red worm tagged about 18 inches behind it is the go to rig for high water fishing. The off color water allows for the use of heavier 1-2x leaders and tippet so take advantage. The streamer fishing remains productive and should be getting better as the water levels rise. Black or olive rubber leg woolly buggers and mini loop sculpins either stripped or dead drifted under an indicator have been working well. Personally, I have been fishing some larger articulated streamers such as the Boogie Man, Silk Kitten, and Craven's Gonga with some good success. If you're looking to key in on some of the larger fish in the river I would stick to fishing those bigger articulated flies.
Dry fly fishing is still a little slow but we are starting to see some caddis show up in good numbers. Evening fishing the upper river around Reynolds and Three Dollar Bridge will be your best bet for getting some fish to eat on top. Other than the caddis the bug activity has been very minimal. The next expected hatch is the infamous salmon fly hatch that is still a few weeks out. Once we start to see the first big bugs start to show up we will let you know so keep an eye out for our future reports!
Streamers:
Mini Loop Sculpin
Robber Sculpin
Galloup's Boogieman
Galloup's Peanut Envy
Craven's Gonga
Jake's CDC Squirrel Leech
Nymphs:
Rubber Legs - Black and Black/Brown #4-6
Brillion's Lucent Prince Jig - #16
Jighead Prince - #14-16
Chenille Worm - Pink
Strolls' Quill Bodied Jig - #16
Serendipity - Olive #16
Psycho Prince - #16-18
Dries:
Front Loader Caddis - #16-18
Peacock Caddis - #16-18
Goddard Caddis - #16-18
Blooms Caddis - #16-18
Purple Haze - #16
- John Kelley
Check out the latest Madison River Fishing Report here.
