1/30/2010 Lower Maddie

Fished the Lower Madison today with a buddy of mine. One of the best days out in a long time. Between both of us, we hooked into well over 50 fish in three hours. Fishing was not too technical today. Just keepin it low and slow. Even caught a few on a streamer. Started the day with a pink scud #14 and #12 san jaun worm and was killin it right away. Lost the worm on the DOG (long story after some streamside surgery) and switched to a #16 black lightning bug. We were still consistently hooking into fish. Put on a sculpin pattern at the end of the day and caught a few nice fish and one toad about that must have at least 20 inches. Fished up around warm springs and fished down about a mile or so. Average size was around 16 inches, but a few over 18 and one over 20. All but two fish were Bows. I caught one whitefish and my buddy hooked into a cutbow. Bows and cuts will start spawning in a month or so, and the upper madison will be closed in some parts starting mid feb for a few months. Water temp was 37 mid day and 35 when I left. Air temp was between 20-27. Mostly cloudy and wind around 5mph SW.