The following report is by Madison River Outfitters:
Montana
Hebgen & Quake Lakes: With the weather cooling down, the lakes are fishing great! Browns should begin staging in the shallows by now. stripping streamers is the ticket with these aggressive fish. Otherwise the bobber fishing is still solid with leeches, callibaetis nymphs, and chironomid imitations being the ticket under the waves.
Flies We’re Fishing:
#16 Found Link Callibaetis, #16 Spinner Long Tailed Callibaetis, #16 Peacock Chubby Chernobyl, #20 CW Trico Spinner #18 Bucky’s Midge Cluster, #18 Black, Olive, OR Red Zebra Midge, #14 O/S Opal Buzzer, #14 Olive Nugget, #14 Turkey Callibaetis, #16 Brush Hog, #14 Black/Red Ice Cream Cone, #8 Black Vegas Booby Leech, #8 Black OR Olive Simi-Seal Leech, #8 Hot Bead Thin Mint
Madison Flows:
Hebgen Lake Inflow: 579 CFS
Hebgen Lake Outflow: 873 CFS
Kirby Flows: 954 CFS
Cameron Flows: 1100 CFS
Water Temp @ Kirby: High 62 F
Low 55 F
Flows as of 12PM September 17th 2025
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A great Rainbow on the Spey Rod from MRO Guide Tyler Amory on a Day Off
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Upper Madison:
As we creep into fall the Upper is in very good shape. We’re seeing sparse caddis, BWO’s and smaller baetis, mahogany duns, and we’re still persuading fish with terrestrials as well. Streamers are back on the menu with the seasons changing and those bucknasty browns starting to color up accordingly. The nymph game has been a little easier than weeks past, with fish starting to eat our old reliable patterns once again. Get out there and bring a rain jacket!
Flies We’re Fishing:
#18 Olive Hot Spot Perdigon, #16 Sunburst Perdigon, #18 S&M Dark Baetis, #18 Purple JJ Baetis, #16/#18 Black OR Red Krystal Dip, #16 Pilva’s Perdigon – Olive, #16 Purple Parachute, #16 Nyman’s Flying Ant, #14 Black Bionic Ant, #16 OR #14 Royal Chubby Chernobyl, #16 Peacock Chubby Chernobyl, #14 Foam Back Spruce Moth Tan, #14 Yellow Morrish Hopper, #6 Olive Mini Dungeon, #4 Sparkle Yummy – Black, #6 Olive/White Barely Legal, #8 Hot Bead Leech – Olive, Black, Brown
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MRO Guide Hugh and Joe cheesin over a YNP Cutthroat
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YNP
The rivers on the Western side of YNP (the Madison, Firehole, Gibbon, and all tributaries) have all been re-opened to all-day fishing. Keep an eye on those water temps in the afternoons, although the weather seems like its smooth sailing for a while.
Madison, Firehole, Gibbon: With cooler weather inbound, our fall run is definitely starting to spin up. Time to break out the soft hackles, streamers, and long rods! If you’re the dry fly purist in the family (grow up), we should start seeing fall baetis in there, and attractors should rise some fish too. the fishing is just going to keep getting better as long as its getting wetter!
Gallatin: The Gallatin is fishing pretty well throughout the whole river. We aren’t seeing quite the volume of bugs as we have earlier in the season, but there should still be occasional baetis and BWO hatches. Beetles, ants, hoppers, spruce moths, etc. should all play on the Gallatin. Hopper dropper rigs are a great way to search the deeper runs and pools up-river of Big Sky.
NE Corner: The Yellowstone River is beginning to slow down a bit. There are still fish to be had but they require you to put in the miles to find them. There should still be some decent fish looking up on BWO’s and smaller baetis, but hoppers and beetles are a great choice as well. Swinging soft hackles and leeches is always a fun way to fish the stone as well! It’s tributaries; (Lamar, Slough, Soda Butte) should all be fishing a bit better, due to higher fish counts and easier wading/access.
YNP Flows
Firehole: 203 CFS & High of 67F
Gibbon: 79 CFS
Madison: 296 CFS & High of 62F
Yellowstone Outlet: 742 CFS
Gallatin: 294 CFS
Lamar: 157 CFS
Soda Butte: gage is gone!
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Get out there!
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Joe and Shawn having a blast in the NE Corner
Feature photo caption: Corey and Nate With a Stunner of a Float Section ‘Bow
