Home Again
The trip is over, and we made it home between violent Mid-West storms. Wisconsin does get tornadoes, and we had three in our locale just before we arrived. The last part of the trip was a two-day fishing excursion on the Madison, probably my most favorite river in the US. When we visited in late June it was high from weeks of rain, but upon our return 10 days later, the river was in good condition, and I had the opportunity to fish two hours one evening and two hours the next morning. The fishing was like I remember from the “old” days–the early 70s. I took 14 trout, one of which was 5 inches long–a very healthy rainbow. The others were all very nice fish. 8 rainbows between 14 and 17 inches and 5 browns between 15 and 19 inches. All of the fish were very healthy. The rainbows showed no signs of whirling disease, and were as active as any rainbow I’ve ever caught from the Madison. All the water and the excellent condition of the fish promises a great summer’s fishing on this blue-ribbon trout stream.
These fish will be the center of a story–“9 to 5” in our forthcoming book, Nymphs and Wets. The story will be excerpted here in a day or two.
17-inch Madison rainbow; note the spotting--like a Feather River bow.
