Madison Floats

The lower Madison River below Beartrap Canyon is an excellent float fishery in spring, early summer, and fall. Indeed, it's the May and June fishing that bring us to this river. Because it is something of a tailwater (though it's not a classic tailwater in the sense of the Missouri, Bighorn, or White), the Madison stays clear later into May than the Yellowstone and clears up sooner, meaning it's floatable for all but a couple weeks in the spring. The Yellowstone, by contrast, is usually muddy for six weeks or more. On the other hand, Ennis Lake upstream of Beartrap Canyon is silted in and very shallow, which allows it and therefore the river downstream to warm to unacceptable levels in midsummer. For this reason, the Lower Madison is a spring and fall river, dovetailing well with our summer focus on the Yellowstone right outside our door.

The lower Madison fishes differently than the more-famous "50 Mile Riffle" section upstream. It is primarily a nymph and streamer river, with larger fish especially fond of dead-drifted crayfish patterns. In the fall, the Madison can be a better choice than the Yellowstone, either due to runoff from the melting of early fall snowstorms dirtying the 'Stone or for anglers who wish to try for fall-run browns who lack the skill level to fish streamers or the physical stamina to wade the Yellowstone's streamer runs. There are rainbow trout and browns in this section of river (no cutthroats), and while either species can grow to impressive size, the average rainbow is in the twelve inch class while most of the time we'll find some browns up to sixteen inches. There are fish much bigger than this, however.

Because the Madison is quite a distance from Gardiner, we do not offer half-day floats on it. Anglers embarking on our Madison trips should expect to leave Gardiner no later than 8:00AM (usually earlier) and return no earlier than 7:30PM. If you are lodging in Bozeman or Livingston, we will adjust these times accordingly and meet you at your lodgings or a convenient meeting point. There will also be a $25 fuel surcharge added to all Madison River float trips to help guides defray the cost of gas. This fee will be waived for multiday bookings, no matter how many days take place on the Madison. The fee will also be waived if a trip originally scheduled to take place elsewhere (walk or float) must be switched to the Madison due to weather or water conditions.

	Full-day	Half-day
One or Two Anglers	$425	N/A
A deposit of one-half the cost of your trip is due when booking. Check our Guide Trip Faq for more info. What's included in the above rates? Click here. Shoulder season rates apply from roughly March 1 until the day before the YNP opener and from October 20 until roughly November 15. Rate is for one or two anglers. Three angler trips and half-days are not available.

Contact Information
Phone:	(406) 848-7314
Address:	PO Box 196 202 Second Street South (US-89) Gardiner, MT 59030
E-Mail:	Richard Parks, Owner Walter Wiese, Head Guide
Facebook:	Search "Parks Fly Shop and Guide Service"