The Madison begins at Madison Junction, where the Firehole and the Gibbon meet, and runs about fourteen miles west through the park to Hebgen Lake. It is the least like the rest of the river of any reach: slow, weedy meadow water fed by geothermal springs, with its own permit and tackle rules, season dates that change partway down it, and the fall run every streamer angler in the region circles on the calendar.
West Yellowstone — Today's Report
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Live Data
Updated Sep 21, 7:02 PM MDT
West Yellowstone Fishing Report
Yellowstone Park to Hebgen Lake
Water Temp (West Yellowstone)59.9°F
Flow Rate (West Yellowstone)303 CFS
Water ClarityExcellent
The gauge at West Yellowstone is reading 309 cfs, up a touch from the 290 we saw two weeks back but still skinny. Water temp hit 65.1°F at yesterday's 5:30 pm reading, and that number tells you most of what you need to know about how to fish this water right now. Sixty-five in the afternoon is too warm to be leaning on fresh run fish. Mornings are a different story. Overnight lows have been dropping into the 30s, and the water coming off those cold nights is when the browns and rainbows that have slid up out of Hebgen actually move and eat. The park lifted the last of its fishing restrictions on the Madison, Firehole, and Gibbon on September 4 after the summer closures, so the whole system inside the boundary is legal water again, sunrise to sunset. The run itself is just getting going. There are lake fish in the system, and some genuinely nice browns have come to hand in the Barns Pools and at Baker's Hole, but the bright, cloudless stretch we've had has kept new fish from pushing in and made the ones already in the river a bit stale. That will change with the first real cold front and some cloud cover. If you get a gray day this week, drop everything and go. Water clarity is gin clear at these flows, which cuts both ways. You can spot fish in Nine Mile Hole and the flats above Seven Mile Bridge, but they can see you just as well, so long leaders and a careful approach matter more than fly choice. Know your water and your regs before you go. The stretch from the state line down to the park boundary near the West Entrance, which covers the Barns Pools and Baker's Hole, is open year-round, so the fall run does not end when the calendar says so on that water. From Madison Junction down to the state line, the season runs May 1 through October 31 under the 2026 rules, which is a change from the old parkwide opener, so ignore anything an older report tells you about season dates. The Madison inside the park is fly fishing only. Not artificial lures only, fly fishing only, and lures are flat-out prohibited. Barbless hooks required, and you need a Yellowstone Park fishing permit because your Montana license means nothing past the entrance gate. Between run fish, there's solid fishing on residents. October Caddis are starting to show, there are still a few small mayflies around on the softer edges near Madison Junction, and the riffle water up high holds fish that will eat a swung soft hackle all day. If the afternoon warmth has the fish sulking, the Upper below Hebgen is running colder and fishing better through midday. More on how the run typically builds is on the fall seasons page.
Tactics for today
Be at the Barns Pools or Cable Car Run at first light and fish hard until late morning, then go find lunch. I'd swing a Shakey Beeley or a soft hackle streamer on a slow, deliberate swing through the pools, step down two steps between casts, and cover the whole run before repeating with something heavier. Run fish sit in the guts and tailouts, not the fast stuff. If someone's already working a pool, wait your turn or move, the rotation etiquette down there is real. For resident fish up toward Nine Mile Hole, dead drift an October Caddis pupa under an indicator through the deeper slots, and don't be shy about twitching a big orange dry along the banks in the afternoon. Carry bear spray. This is grizzly country and September is when they're working hard.
The Firehole arrives warm. Geothermal input keeps this reach well above the Upper Madison year-round; only the Lower below Ennis Lake matches it in high summer. That warmth is why it fishes beautifully in June and again in October and is often unfishable in between.
The water is flat, smooth and weedy. Long glides and undercut banks, none of the boulder pockets you get on the Upper. Fish see everything, so your drift and your approach matter more than your pattern.
The fall run is the reason most anglers come. From late September, browns and rainbows push up out of Hebgen Lake into the park water. The bottom of the reach stays open year-round, so that fishing carries on past the October 31 close that applies upstream.
Access
Madison Junction: The top of the reach, where the Firehole and Gibbon join.
Nine Mile Hole: Classic run, and one of the most-fished pieces of water in the park.
Seven Mile Bridge: Pullouts either side; good access to the meadow water.
Cable Car Run: Below Seven Mile, holds fall fish well.
Barns Pools: Below Cable Car Run, upstream of Baker's Hole. Traditional fall-run water.
Baker's Hole: Near the west park boundary, downstream of the Barns. Campground access, and the bottom of the reach.
Access along this reach is from pullouts on the West Entrance Road rather than formal fishing access sites. Everything is wade or walk-in, and there is no floating inside the park.
When it fishes
Year-round: state line down to the west boundary: The Madison from the Montana–Wyoming state line downstream to the park boundary near the West Entrance is open all year. This is the Baker's Hole and Barns Pools water, which is exactly where the fall run happens.
May 1 to October 31: Madison Junction down to the state line: Since 2026 this stretch opens May 1 — earlier than the park general season — and closes October 31.
Midsummer (July–August): Water temperature climbs well past the rest of the river. Expect closures, and expect the reach to be a dawn proposition at best when it is open at all.
Fall run (late September onward): The main event. Browns and rainbows move up from Hebgen into the lower, year-round water. Streamers and big nymphs, and it holds together well past the October 31 date that closes the upper part of the reach.
A Yellowstone National Park fishing permit is required. A Montana fishing license is not valid inside the park and is not accepted.
The Madison, the Firehole, and the Gibbon below Gibbon Falls are FLY FISHING ONLY. Artificial lures are prohibited on these streams. That is stricter than the parkwide artificial-lures rule, and stricter than Montana state regulations.
Hooks must be barbless, or the barbs pinched down.
The Park Service closes water on short notice when it gets too warm. Check current closures before you drive up.
No fishing from a boat anywhere on this reach.
Seasons differ by section within the park. Confirm dates against the NPS fishing page before you go.
Reading the gauge
Readings come from USGS gauge 06037500, Madison River near West Yellowstone, at the downstream end of the park reach. Flows here are a fraction of what the river carries downstream: a few hundred CFS against a thousand at Kirby and roughly fifteen hundred at McAllister, because this is the Madison before Hebgen Lake and the tributaries below it.
When is the Madison River in Yellowstone open to fishing?
It depends on the section. The Madison from the Montana–Wyoming state line downstream to the park boundary near the West Entrance is open year-round. Above that, Madison Junction down to the state line opens May 1 (a 2026 change, earlier than the park general season) and closes October 31. The Park Service also closes water mid-season when temperatures get too high, which happens most summers.
Do I need a Montana license to fish the Madison in the park?
No. You need a Yellowstone National Park fishing permit; a Montana license is not valid inside the park. The tackle rules differ too. The Madison inside the park is fly fishing only, with barbless hooks, so a spinning rod that is legal below the boundary is not legal above it.
When does the fall run start on the Madison in Yellowstone?
Browns and rainbows begin moving up from Hebgen Lake in late September and the run builds through October. The lower part of this reach, state line down to the west boundary, is open year-round, so the fall fishing does not stop on October 31 the way it does on the water above the state line.
Why is the Madison so warm inside the park?
The Firehole River, one of the two forks that form the Madison at Madison Junction, drains a geyser basin and carries geothermal heat. That warmth is why the reach fishes early and late and struggles in midsummer.
