Yellow sallies, pmds, mayflies, caddis, midges, AND salmon flies ~ oh my! The Madison River is a walking advertisement for trout-rich insect life right now. We are happily experiencing the benefits of an extraordinary snow pack that then lead to a big run off. In fact, our area rivers’ flows are just coming down with the water clearing up ~ that’s more than 3 weeks behind a normal year!Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks published a great article titled, Fish take advantage of high waters, sharing the following insight, “This type of big spring run off carries soil, nutrients, and heavy debris for miles, cutting new channels, reseeding cottonwood trees along its river banks and scouring stream bottom gravels providing high-quality spawning and rearing habitat for fish.As the water spreads out over the floodplains, it tends to warm and pick up nutrients, providing great growing conditions for everything in the aquatic system–algae, fish, other aquatic creatures and insects!”A lovely combination for summer and fall fishing…If you’ve been contemplating coming out to SW Montana this year, don’t delay! We will continue to reap the benefits of this moisture all season long and would love for you to experience it for yourself.Currently, a cdc baby caddis emerger is the ‘must have fly’ that our guides can’t get enough of. Combining this with a brown girdle bug as the attractor, and it’s been a recipe for consistently catching wild trout! Another go-to bug has been the bitch creek, a salmon fly nymph imitation that is stealing the show on the Madison River. The naturals are fluttering about as well, but with the water still a little cloudy and such a plethora of insect life, nymphs and emergers have been a better bet so far. But, that won’t last long! The flows are drastically dropping and the visibility clearing day by day; soon enough there will be good dry fly and hopper action as the trout look up for their next meal. With this fabulous habitat, be ready for action at the end of your line in 2011!