Mother's Day Caddis Hatch - Lower Madison!!!!

So Mother's Day Caddis (American Grannom or Brachycentrus) hatch on Yellowstone River wasn't great this spring. River is rising now........ But also I was hearing Lower Madison, just outside of Bozeman, can be good with the same hatch. "Lower" is an open-year-around stretch and hosts some big fish. But it can be crowded by angler just like "Upper". Then once water level gets higher and summer comes, this stretch experiences tremendous hatch of recreation people!! Everyone has right and choice of what to do on the water but..........this is an irrelevant topic of this blog anyway.......

So, though I was depending on hear-say, I called my friend Jordie, along with Ben, to hit the Lower. Another reason I wanted to give a shot is that once I start guiding (or get more Master Breeder jobs coming in), I simply don't come this way (besides crowding issues.....). I may not be fishing the Lower until next winter or spring.

As we drove along the river, we observed lots of (repeat) lots of Grannom in the air already!! Our expectations and motivations got higher as we launched my boat. We hit a good little stretch right off the bat!! Our first fish on the boat was this BIG Rainbow!! Nice work Jordie!!

He looked just spawned out.

Ben got a nice 'Bow too!! Nice work, Boys!!

This is my catch......

Over all my Mother' Day Caddis Essential patterns worked all day!! (click here).

So how great the hatch was..........

Rest are "Bugallery" from yesterday.........

Invading my boat......

Also in the evening, we encountered great hatch of small mayflies!!! (I just couldn't confirm to say BWO or Baetis. Could be so.)

Of course trout rose on them too!! Some trout were feeding either on caddis or mayflies very selectively just like at spring creeks!!

We also found some March Browns. This is the Rusty Spinner.

We also experienced great Crayfish hatch!!??

Those caddis & mayfly hatches happened in the middle of float and we stopped and fished at the stretch very long. Even after that, good numbers of trout kept rising on our dry-flies. So we ended up taking my boat out at the dark............Consequently I came home way too late.......
There might be another window of opportunity with hatches at the Lower. I might try again within a few day.....