May 20……the OPENER…….Mud. When Holly and I first pulled up to Reynolds Pass the river was not quite as green as the day before. There were a few rigs and trailers, but those folks were way down stream by then. We geared up and headed upstream with another friend whom we met in the parking lot…Mr. Worley. Brian and I have fished the opener together for the past 7 years. Normally we float Lyons to Pal, but since the West Fork is flowing with chocolate milk we decided to wade.

There is about 6-10 inches of visibility and I might be a little generous with that. We all caught plenty of trout on nymphs and even saw a couple of fish rise to BWOs. We let Holly fish the runs first, only to watch her stick fish on her first three drifts in almost every run. A Rubber Leg and a Black Lighting Bug on 2X. We played around with other patterns like the SJW, PT and the Micro May as well. Yes, they worked too. The Madison is more brown than green and there is still lots of snow in the mountains. There is rain in the forecast and more warm weather. Quake Lake is brown and will be for awhile. I expect the Madison to be off color for 2 more weeks. That seems like a long time, but if it does not get cold again the snow will keep on a’meltn’.

Watch out for Reds in the channels as there are still fish spawning in the Madison and we don’t want to step on the reds. If the gravel is exposed and looks pollished, step around it. For those interested in the well being of the Madison, read the paragraphs directly to your right.