Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Madison river near Ennis

I have a chance to stay in a nice custom cabin in Ennis,MT. and fish the Madison river for a week this fall.

Problem: I don’t “FLY fish”.

At the risk of offending dedicated fly fishers, can the Madison be fished with spinning gear ?
Spinners and small lures converted to single hook ??
Will the local fly fishing community tar & feather me ?

I don't see why you shouldn't try spinning gear on the Madison. If you don't catch many trout, you can always drive upstream 50 or so miles to Earthquake Lake and Hebgen Lake. Either lake has plenty of shoreline where you could fish from. Or you could stop at Kirkwood to rent a boat. Both lakes have lots of rainbows and browns. It would make for an interesting drive regardless. You could see where 80 million tons of rock fell in a landslide during the 1959 earthquake to form Earthquake Lake.


https://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/marina/kirkwood-marina.html

Or if you bring a 22 you could always go to Wall Creek Elk Preserve and shoot some ground squirrels. There are marmots in select areas in there too if you want to use a centerfire.

You could also try either small jigs or a nymph/wet fly under a small bobber/float. Kind of like an indicator and nymph setup on a flyrod. Beautiful country, hard not to have a good time there in the fall.

The answer is yes, you can catch plenty with spinning gear.

Anaconda: Tie a large Muddler Minnow on your spinning pole about 3 1/2 feet below a ball float strike indicator and fish that.
I am a beginning fly fisher (twenty five years now!) and fly and nymph fishing rivers can be difficult.
Several years ago I was new on the Madison River just below Ennis (1 to 2 miles) in the channelized section.
And I was having a tough time getting anything to hit my flies, nymphs and imitation minnows as I "cast" them about.
Finally I said heck with it and tied on a Muddler Minnow and did NOT cast it at all.
I literally slowly walked it down river from the steep cutbanks about 20 feet in front of me (downriver) and I caught several dandy Brown Trout and had two break the leader I was using!
IIRC I had added just a single medium small spit shot to the midpoint of my 9 foot leader.
And I was literally fishing from 2 to 6 feet from the shores bank!
My partner and I were fishing there that time in September - beautiful time of the year there and we finally started doing rather well.
The "fly-shop" folks are usually VERY helpful there in Ennis (to fly fishers anyway) and they would recommend a fly or nymph that is doing well at the time (just don't tell them about the spinning pole!).
Be sure and try the deli at the Madison Foods for fried chicken at and after noon each day. Then on Fridays only after 3:00 P.M. you can get a wonderful prime rib dinner (freshly cooked!) with baked potato for $11.00 to go!
There are some nice places to eat in Ennis but these two to go offerings are wonderful!!!
Good luck and enjoy the area.
Some rivers and river sections in Montana the "fly" fishing is WAY more productive than spin fishing!
I proven that a hundred times.
I live on the Beaverhead River (two drainages west) and fly fishing folks catch 20 fish to 1 fish caught by spinner/bait fishermen there! These fish are "sophisticated" and have more than they can eat virtually year round in the nymph and fly naturals.
Again good luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks.
I’m a “catch & release” guy (except saltwater).

I’ll switch all the trebles out for siwash single hooks and file the barbs to minimum.

I’ll probably buy one of those basic fly fishing combos and try it for a day, maybe take a lesson.

If you are going to try fly fishing I'd highly recommend a casting lesson or two. It will save you a lot of frustration and reduce your bad habits. I warn you, it is addictive!

Varmint Guy, thanks for the tips... If we make it up that way I will try the fishing, but the food for sure!!!