Hebgen Dam to Quake Lake
The Madison starts at Madison Junction in Yellowstone, where the Firehole and Gibbon meet, and leaves the park into Hebgen Lake. Below Hebgen Dam it runs only a few miles before pooling in Quake Lake, the lake formed when the 1959 earthquake dropped a mountainside into the canyon. Bottom releases from Hebgen keep this short reach cold and clear all summer, so it draws heavy pressure during runoff when the rest of the river is off color. It fishes as a boulder and riffle-run tailwater and holds some large fish that move up out of Quake Lake.
Quake Lake to Lyons Bridge
Below the Quake Lake outlet the river drops through the slide, a stretch of big-boulder pocket water with very high trout density that is hard to wade and hard to fish until flows drop below roughly 1,300 cfs at Kirby Ranch, usually by late June. Past Raynolds Pass the gradient eases and the water turns into the wide riffles the Madison is known for, with Three Dollar Bridge the most popular access. FWP closes the entire Quake Lake outlet to Lyons Bridge reach to fishing from boats, so this is walk-and-wade water; boats can only be used to move between runs.
Lyons Bridge to Ennis, the Fifty Mile Riffle
Float fishing is allowed from Lyons Bridge down to Ennis, and this is where most guided boats work: Lyons to McAtee, McAtee to Varney and Varney to Ennis, each roughly a day's float with FWP fishing access sites at every bridge. The West Fork enters just above Lyons Bridge and can muddy the west bank at high water. The whole reach is one long, shallow riffle broken by glacial boulders, islands and side channels; catch rates are high on the upper floats and the deeper runs and cutbanks between Varney and Ennis hold the river's largest browns. The Kirby Ranch gauge above this reach is the number local shops quote.
Ennis Lake, Bear Trap Canyon and the lower Madison
Madison Dam at the foot of Ennis Lake sends the river into Bear Trap Canyon, eight roadless miles of BLM wilderness with a Class V rapid that keeps most boats out; anglers hike in from the bottom. From the Warm Springs access down to Three Forks the lower Madison is a weed-bed river fished mostly from Warm Springs to Black's Ford and Greycliff. It is a spring and fall fishery: summer water gets too warm to fish responsibly from about late July to mid September, and the best months run February to early July and mid September into December. The salmonfly hatch starts here in mid to late June and works upstream into July; there is no spring salmonfly hatch. At Three Forks the Madison joins the Jefferson and Gallatin to form the Missouri, about 180 miles from Madison Junction.
Rainbow and brown trout
Wild rainbows are the most numerous trout from Quake Lake to Ennis, spread through the riffles where the current keeps them strong and fast on the hookup. They feed hard on caddis from May into fall, on PMDs from late June through July, and on salmonflies and golden stones from about June 25 through mid July on the upper river, then on hoppers along the banks in August.
Browns are everywhere but hold in the deeper runs, cutbanks and gravel depressions, and they make up a larger share of the catch from Varney Bridge down and in the lower river. September and October, when they stage to spawn, are the streamer months, and big fish also run up out of Hebgen Lake into the park water in October.
Season and regulations
The Madison is open year-round. Runoff peaks from late May into mid June and the river settles back into shape by late June. At the Kirby Ranch gauge (06038800) local guides put ideal wading and floating flows at 900 to 1,500 cfs; below about 700 cfs the water is low and the fish spooky, and from 1,500 to 2,500 cfs wading is limited to the edges while floating still works. The 900 to 1,500 cfs range is what this page compares the live gauge against. Hoot-owl restrictions, which close fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight, are applied in hot, low-water summers; none is in effect on the Madison as of this check, so look at the FWP restrictions page before a July or August trip.
The Madison is in FWP's Central Fishing District, and most of the upper river is an exception to the standard 3-trout limit. From the Quake Lake outlet to Lyons Bridge it is catch-and-release for trout, artificial lures only and closed to fishing from boats. Lyons Bridge to Varney Bridge is catch-and-release for trout with artificial lures only. Varney Bridge to Ennis Lake is catch-and-release for rainbows with artificial lures and barbless, single-pointed hooks, and the Ennis Bridge to Ennis Lake stretch is also closed to fishing from boats. Anglers 14 and under may keep one fish on these reaches. Hebgen Dam to Quake Lake and Ennis Dam to the mouth follow the Central District standard limits. The river carries New Zealand mudsnail and Eurasian watermilfoil, so clean, drain and dry your gear. Confirm the current Montana FWP regulations before you fish.