The Madison River: A Fly Fisher's Holy Water
Near West Yellowstone, Montana
Just inside the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park, the Gibbon River and the Firehole River come together and form the Madison River. That confluence is inside the park. The Madison then flows northwest through the town of West Yellowstone before turning north through the Madison Valley toward Three Forks, where it joins the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers to form the Missouri River.
The upper Madison, from the park boundary through West Yellowstone and north to Quake Lake, is considered one of the premier wild trout fisheries in the United States. Fly fishers call it blue-ribbon water, which in Montana designates rivers that consistently support exceptional populations of large wild trout. The Madison runs cold and clear, fed partly by geothermally moderated waters emerging from the park's geyser basins, which means the river rarely freezes in winter and holds fish through seasons when other rivers go dormant. Rainbow trout and brown trout thrive in its currents, along with mountain whitefish.
West Yellowstone has built a significant share of its economy around the fishing trade since the early nineteen hundreds. Fly shops and guide outfitters catering specifically to anglers have operated here for more than a century. Montana requires a fishing license for non-residents, and much of the upper Madison operates under catch-and-release rules designed to protect the fishery that has drawn serious fly fishers from around the world. The river is one of those places that people plan entire trips around, arriving in late June when the salmon fly hatch occurs and the fish go, temporarily and magnificently, to the surface.
