Fall Report

Nate Stevane
November 28, 2019

We hope everyone had plenty of Thanksgiving food yesterday and enjoyed time with family and friends! Now sit back with that full belly and enjoy the news!

In this newsletter:

Madison River management plan update and survey. 2019 fall brown trout run report. Upcoming trade show schedule. Holiday gift ideas.

Madison River Management Plan Update and Survey

The Madison River Foundation and the George Grant Trout Unlimited chapter submitted petitions to our Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks 5-member commission with their plans for a management plan for the Madison River. Their plans were very similar to the original plans the commissioners rejected in April of 2018. On November 12^th, 2019 the commissioners rejected both petitions that were submitted to them, thankfully. Moving forward, FWP has started its public scoping process.

Please take the time and fill out the survey which needs to be submitted by December 6th, 2019.

Here is the email from Montana FWP –

“Montana Fish, Wildlife & Park is beginning a public process to gauge public support and collect feedback on various alternatives for dealing with crowding and conflict on the Madison River.

The process, known as scoping, will ask the public their opinions on various alternatives to addressing four main issues: commercial fishing outfitter management, social conflict management on the upper river, lower river recreational management, and angler use management on the upper river. The form of this process will be a public survey.

Additionally, the public will weigh in on their support for a management goal for recreational use on the river.

The scoping process comes at the direction of the Fish and Wildlife Commission, which met earlier this month to hear petitions from various interest groups proposing solutions to recreation management on the Madison River. The commission denied all three petitions but directed the department staff to insert the options proposed within the petitions into a scoping process.

The public will have 40 days to comment. Once the scoping process is complete, the department will consider the survey results and draft a proposed rule, which is slated to go before the commission in February. The commission will then choose whether or not to put the proposed rule out for public comment.

“It’s taken a long time and a lot of work to get to this point where we can officially collect input on our next steps,” said FWP director Martha Williams. “People are passionate about the Madison River, and we know it’s important for us to consider all interests in moving forward. We’re committed to doing just that.”

In addition to taking the survey, people can submit written comments to [email protected].

The survey can be found at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RDWKFXW.”

Fall Brown Trout Runup Report

Similar to the fall of 2018, our fall run for 2019 started out slow. When I say slow I am talking about two anglers with one guide landing 8-15 run up rainbows and browns per day. The fishing seemed to get good around October 25^th, historically the fall run gets good around mid-October and continues to stay good into November. From 10/25 on clients were landing 20-30 run up rainbows and browns per day between two anglers on the overcast days, some of those browns hit the 20″-23″ mark on the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park. The overcast days produced more and better fish than the sunny days which is normal. Catching trout on the sunny days seem to be challenging but the whitefish seemed eager to eat our flies. October was much colder than most Octobers with a few days where the wind chill hit -25 degrees. Believe it or not, we had only two cancellations during the cold snap in October, some hearty anglers out there! Several days the Park Service closed the roads in YNP due to snow (or lack of snow) however, we took advantage of those days and fished the Madison River in Montana around Three Dollar Bridge, Reynolds bridge, and Pine Butte areas with great success and no crowds. To sum it up I would recommend booking later in the season for 2020 based on the last two years of fishing during the brown trout run. When booking we can fish in Yellowstone National Park through the first Sunday in November, which is the 1^st for 2020. BOOK NOW FOR PRIME DATES IN 2020!

Upcoming Trade Show Schedules

We are only attending three trade shows this winter, and here they are!

The Fly Fishing Show at the Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center in Marlborough, MA – January 17-19, 2020.
The Fly Fishing Show at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in Edison, NJ – January 24-26, 2020.
The 45th Annual Fishing Show at the George R. Brown Convention & Exhibit Center in Houston, TX – March 4-8, 2020

We will keep you posted on show schedules a couple of weeks before each show. Stay tuned!

Holiday Gift Ideas?

Are you struggling with holiday gift ideas? Check out our online store for the perfect Christmas gift! In stock – Trout On The Fly hats, t-shirts (women and men in an assortment of colors and sizes), hoodies, buffs and the perfect gift a fishing trip!