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
Sunday, September 27, 2026
Live Data
Updated Sep 27, 7:03 AM MDT
West Yellowstone Fishing Report
Yellowstone Park to Hebgen Lake
Water Temp (West Yellowstone)62.1°F
Flow Rate (West Yellowstone)290 CFS
Water ClarityGood
The gauge inside the park read 290 cfs and 53.6 degrees at 5:30 this morning. That's skinny water for late September, but the temperature is the number that matters. The geothermal load off the Firehole that makes this stretch nearly unfishable in July is finally an asset instead of a liability, keeping the water in the low-50s sweet spot. The 2 p.m. closures that hung over the park water through most of the summer are long gone, and the Madison in the park is fishing full days for the first extended stretch since June. This is fall water now, and fall is why you come here. The run is on. Browns and a handful of heavy rainbows have been pushing up out of Hebgen for a couple of weeks, and the early fish got stale under the bright September sun. That changes this week. The forecast is unsettled, and gray, cool, spitting-rain days do two things on this water: they move fresh fish upriver and they put the fish already in the river on the feed. If you wake up to clouds, drop whatever you had planned and get down there. Baker's Hole and the Barns Pools are where the run stacks first, and both sit on the water between the Montana state line and the park boundary near the West Entrance. That stretch is open year-round, so the run doesn't end when a season closes. It ends when the fish finish their business and drop back to the lake, usually deep into November. Upstream is a different clock. From Madison Junction down to the state line, the season runs May 1 through October 31, so Nine Mile Hole, Seven Mile Bridge, and Cable Car Run have about five weeks left. Remember the mile markers count from town, not from the Junction, so Nine Mile sits upstream of Seven Mile Bridge. Cable Car is my favorite swing water in the park right now. Enough depth to hold traveling fish, enough current to keep a soft hackle alive. Clarity is good. There's the usual tannic tea stain this water always carries, but you can read the bottom in most runs at 290 cfs, and the fish can read you just as easily. Quiet wading matters more here than fly choice. On bugs, the scuzzy days are bringing blue-winged olives off in fishable numbers, and there are enough October caddis banging around in the afternoons that a big orange soft hackle earns its spot in the rotation. Most of the fish you're after aren't eating hatches though. They're agitated, territorial lake fish, and they eat swung flies out of aggression. Paperwork before you go: you need a Yellowstone National Park fishing permit, and your Montana license means nothing past the entrance gate. The Madison, the Firehole, and the Gibbon below Gibbon Falls are fly fishing only. Artificial lures are prohibited on these streams, not just discouraged, and hooks must be barbless. Pinch them at the truck. Rangers check this water hard in the fall because everybody and their cousin is on it, and the park rules don't match Montana's.
Tactics for today
Swing it. A trout spey or a single-hander with a light sink tip, cast down and across, let the fly come around slow through the guts of the Barns Pools and Cable Car Run. Step down between casts like a steelheader, and if someone's already in the pool, get in behind them and rotate through. Start with a smaller sculpin pattern, and when the light goes flat, go bigger and darker. On sunny afternoons don't grind on stale fish. Go poke around Nine Mile Hole with a dry-dropper for residents, then come back for the last two hours of light. If you draw a gray, drizzly day, fish the swing water straight through. Those are the days a 24-inch brown eats at noon.
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.
