Idaho Fish Report

Okay, let's get to the fishing options you have here this week. We do have water this year, lots of water! Fishing will be grand all summer, we may even see cool flows prevail all summer on the Firehole.


The Madison fished well all week and will continue. The Park stretch is high and off-color but will begin to recede this coming week. Still, streamers and big stone nymphs are producing on the upper stretches near the junction.


The Madison below Hebgen is clear, for about a quarter mile until Cabin Creek dumps its cold-muddy flow into the main stem. Here red Copper Johns and analid patterns work just fine. The channel at the large island upstream of Cabin has many rainbow redds so please do not disturb spawning fish there.


The river below Earthquake Lake and downstream to the West Fork is high and off-color but the fishing remains fantastic is you are in to fishing huge streamers and nymphs. You can only go wrong if you decide to wade the heavy flows as the fish are on the banks and you do not need to get your feet wet. Our large brown and black rubber leg stone nymphs trailing a pink beaded SJ Worm are a deadly combination during the day. In the late afternoon and evening switch to one of our new streamers and hang on! Fish only the banks. I like to work upstream using a very short cast, 10-20 feet, and work the big streamers back to me by raising my tenkara rod and twitching or dead-drifting the fly just off the bank. There are spots you might see the fish on the footpaths as the water is high now in these areas and covers the trail. These fish are fun to fish sight nymphing with smaller bugs like Krystal and red Dips or Shop Vacs.