Now that it’s stopped snowing and raining and blowing and the rivers are becoming fishable I thought I’d send the first report of the season. For openers, Tracy and I hit the upper Madison yesterday, with good results. The Brown in the photo was one of several we landed in the afternoon, most eating a streamer dead drifted along the bank. Look CLOSELY at the fish’ mouth, and you’ll see what he had for lunch.

Interestingly, in the morning, the Bow’s were eating Black Girdle bugs and Red SJ worms. Then, in the afternoon, we switched gears and fed the Browns the streamers. The river was up a bit to 2200, and had about 18 inches of clarity. Hebgen is full, which bodes well for having good conditions into the fall. The Yellowstone is at near normal levels. Warm temps early in May accelerated the runoff; then, the cool weather of the last week (and a foot of new snow in the mountains), slowed the runoff. So, she’s at a fishable level, but we’re waiting for her to clear.