Fishing on the Madison River MT

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

mariekie

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Posts
172
Marsha, this post is, beacuse you aked me to!!!!  We have been staying close to the Madison River for 2 weeks now and have done a lot of fly fishing. We have fished from Three Dollar Bridge, towards Ennis. What glorious fishing. We both think we have died and gone to fly fish heaven. Monday we did an all day float trip with a wonderful guide and we lost count of all the fish we netted. Beautiful Rainbows and Browns. What a thrill - We used 6 weight 9' rods and I think both Chuck and I were just very lucky. We have been doing well on our own as well, when wading. I can report that the Salmon flies are starting to hatch and the area is getting swamped with enthusiastic fly fishers.

Mariekie
 
Aw yes a great place to fish.  Been there a time or two my ownself.
 
Mariekie,

Oh my goodness....that sounds so fabulous!!!!!.  It's still fairly warm (read hot) here, and the stock market is doing a number on us.  Ahhhh to be out fishing and forgettin' some of the cruddy stuff.  All those fish and I'm not there.  :'(

I can picture you at 3 dollar bridge.  What are you using... dry flies or nymphs...or something else?  I use a 9' 6 weight, mine's a 3 piece Sage, that I love.  Naw, you and Chuck were not lucky....just great fisherman.  The Madison is very hard to fish.  Is it up with run off or has it settled down?  Where are you camped?

I bet you might have seen our son.  They camp at Wade Lake and he rides his bike, with a plastic milk carton on the back, down from Wade lake to 3 dollar bridge.  They have a dark blue Ford pickup extended cab with a Caribou slide in camper on it.  They just left Wade lake on Monday heading to fish the Big Horn.  It is still running rather fast since the snow melt was so slow in melting; but he was gonna give it a try. 

Keep me posted....I love it!
Marsha~
 
mariekie said:
Marsha, this post is, beacuse you aked me to!!!!  We have been staying close to the Madison River for 2 weeks now and have done a lot of fly fishing. We have fished from Three Dollar Bridge, towards Ennis.

Marie,

We don't fish so much these days but Ennis is my favorite part on MT.  Do you recall the pheasant we have in our motorhome? We named him  Roadkill.  Well we bought him  at a  fly fishing outfit in Ennis.  We also bought the best steaks we have ever eaten at a butcher shop in Ennis.  I thought of you guys when we saw the fly fisherpeople in Springdale,  Newfoundland a couple of days ago.  Keep up those posts as we love your adventures! Hi to Chuck! 

Betty
 
Marsha,
We are staying at Red Rock Rv Park, about 20+ miles South of  Raynolds Pass in ID. In fact we have decided to stay in Ennis next time we come up here to fish. The current park is nice and of the beaten track, but we like to fish a lot and get tired of all the driving - AND do not forget about the price of gas.
To answer your second question: We used upper and lower Nymphs, with a bubble strike indicater 7' above the nymphs, with a no.2 splitshot. Does that sound impressive or what????  LOL  ;D

Betty,
Of course I remember your "souvies" Yes, the butcher shop is still going strong and the meat is absolutely THE best. But, here is another good one - The Ennis Pharmacy has the best Hamburgers and Fries I ever had and Malts to die for. Those pictures of the fly fishers looks very inviting. I never thought NL would be a fly fishing destination!! Your reports are excellent and because of them,we are seriously considering to do the Maritime States combined with the East Coast in 2010

That about sums it all up  ;)

Mariekie
 
mariekie said:
To answer your second question: We used upper and lower Nymphs, with a bubble strike indicater 7' above the nymphs, with a no.2 splitshot. Does that sound impressive or what????  LOL   ;D

Mariekie

That's how we do it, but instead of using the bubble indicators; we use the yarn ones with bright colors so I can see it.... ;D.  We use small brass shinny nymphs at the bottom and I can't recall if we use slip shot or not.  But no matter...what works....works.

My son send an email picture of our granddaughter fishing on the Snake river.  They used balloons for her so she could watch the line.  I'm attaching a photo because it was so cute.  The guy in the photo is one of Chris's (son) friends who is a flyfishing guide on the Snake/Madison and Yellowstone.  The gal is our daughter in law, who can just about out fish all the guys.  When she caught a 24" brown on the Madison, my son decided he better marry her before someone else snapped her up.

Yes, now I recall you said you were going to be at Redrock...<slapping my forehead> 
Gosh, I wish we were there.  Keep the posts coming!

Marsha~
 

Attachments

  • balloon.JPG
    balloon.JPG
    86.1 KB · Views: 53
You people make me want to cry, the Madison is beautiful even with high water runoff. I had 20 acres in an old hayfield with a river access lot all picked out between Three Forks and Ennis but harley momma said no. Too far from family in Columbus, who are now in Taos!!! The acreage had a huge water well and two RV hookups complete with separate  electric and septic. Hope one of you own it!! We enjoyed our summers in Yellowstone"s Edge RV Park south of Livingston. but the best trout were netted on private lands with access by guides only, EXPENSIVE!!!! Big Sky is a lavish area south of Belgrade on  the way to West Yellowstone. Big Money has taken over much of Montana real estate so every thing is out of sight I tried to buy in but with names like Gates & Letterman I soon lost out.

 
That's a priceless photo Marsha.

Our grandson visits us tomorrow for a few days, and has a fishing date with Grandpa. He's had prior fishing dates and prior boat trips, but this will be the first time fishing on the bass boat.
 

Attachments

  • Boating_with_Grandpa.jpg
    Boating_with_Grandpa.jpg
    113.6 KB · Views: 45
  • Grandma too.jpg
    Grandma too.jpg
    54.2 KB · Views: 42
  • fish1.jpg
    fish1.jpg
    87.1 KB · Views: 39
Tom...great photos.  I love the one with his little body reeling in his fish; he is so focused.  I think the grandkids have the same type of fishing poles.  My son can't wait to get a fly rod in my granddaughter's hands..... ;D  Have fun and let us know how your grandson does.  I bet he will love the bass boat.  You are taking good "grandparent's snacks" along on the boat, aren't you?

Harley man.  That, indeed, is beautiful country....20 acres in an old hayfield with river access is to die for.  You're right, the cost of land with Madison River access is out of sight.  It might have come down a bit with the current real estate, but when we were there last, there were very large homes and estates going up.  They were still way out of our range; and I really didn't want the cold Montana winters.  But I love taking the RV out there.

I'm probably repeating myself; but just up from 3 dollar bridge is a very nice RV park called "Howlin Moon".  It's pretty close to Letterman's place I understand.  We stayed there a couple of years ago.

I'm getting depressed..... :-\  Wish I were out fishing.

Marsha~
 
Marsha,

I think the grandkids have the same type of fishing poles.

Just after that photo was taken, he cast and forgot to hang onto the pole  :(  So he now has a new one.

My son can't wait to get a fly rod in my granddaughter's hands

I know exactly how he feels  ;D

You are taking good "grandparent's snacks" along on the boat, aren't you?

I'm sure Grandma Chris will take care of us  ;)
 
Marsha,  That is a beautiful picture!!!!  You have a lovely, looking family.
I wish you guys were all here fishing with us. It is just glorious to say the least!!!  ;D

As far as property is concerned - There are gorgeous places along the river, but according to our guide, it is EXPENSIVE :eek: We talk milions here. AND I do not know about you, but it is definitely to rich for my tatste. ::) Retirees on fixed incomes and investments not doing all that great; what can I tell you that you do not know yourself. Any way, Chuck always says: "Our cabin is on wheels and if we do not like the place, we can move on" Does that sound like sour grapes??

The plan is to go fishing again tomorrow, but this is park and fishing the banks with wading as well. This stuff is so addictive and I can get so carried away. :)

Mariekie
 
Back
Top Bottom