Pat Bond and I floated the Madison yesterday with Austin Mussleman and his great family from Louisville. We started off from Ruby Cr. with warm sunny skies and adult stoneflies crawling all over the riverbank.Nymphing was fair early on with a rubberleg and a lightning bug. We switched to dry fly rigs with a salmonfly and a pmx just above McAtee and rose a nice brown to the big bug right away. The dry fly bight wasn't fast and furious, but we managed to rise a fair number of fish to both flies all the way to Story Ditch.

By the time we hit Cameron Flats the forecast for afternoon thunderstorms caught up with us, and we spent the better part of an hour taking shelter under a bunch of willows while marble-sized hail blanketed the valley. It took a little while, but once the storm passed, the skies cleared, the air warmed, and the fish were back on the hunt for stoneflies. We fished a smaller golden stone imitation for the remainder of the trip to Varney, and rose the nicest fish of the day through the cotton woods.

Aside from the pocket of bugs around the warm creek at Ruby, the only decent number of adult salmonfies that we saw flying were close to Varney Bridge. There were good numbers of goldens in the air through Cameron Flats, and gobs of salmonfly nymphs around the banks for the entire float. In addition ot the big bugs, there were plenty of caddis (size 16, tan & size 12, brown) and a few pmds throughout the day.

More warm weather and thunderstorms for the rest of the week.  Stay tuned!