I landed in Bozeman this morning, grabbed a quick lunch, and headed to the Madison straight away.

It has been a lean winter and spring due to no fishing, and I was eager to see some moving water. I had read online that flows were quite low, and they sure seemed that way during the drive. I could see bottom in many spots from the road.

The Madison is different every time I come out in summer. Sometimes it is cold, and sometimes it is blazing hot. One year the water was incredibly high and full of turbulent white caps. This summer thus far it looks like low conditions. But I am hoping it will make for a good dry fly fishing.

I threw the bobber and a very lightly weighted nymph at a nice glide and picked up a small brown. I did not care much about the size, and I was just glad to see a fish straight away.

I didn’t see many bugs, but I decided to throw dry flies. I threw all sorts and could see some flashing and some fish hovering. Eventually, a decent rainbro took a CDC Caddis tied with a touch of pink. It pulled ferociously, and it made me remember that wild fish just fight harder. It felt nice to be back in Montana.

Supposedly once some rain hits and fills up the lake above, they’ll increase the flows. I can’t wait.

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