My diary tells me the last time I fished the Madison River, near West Yellowstone, MT, was in late August. As with the Catskills, Montana rivers have their own sequence of hatches—when they begin and when they end. 

In the East, our best hatches run from late April well into June. Hatches are later in Montana, starting in late June with the salmon fly and peaking in July. 

I’m told there are some excellent blue-winged olive hatches and fishing in late September and October. Just keep in mind that October in West Yellowstone can be warm and sunny, or frigid with ice in the guides and snow on the ground.  

While all of us who were on that trip prefer to fish the dry fly, there are times when there is so little surface activity that other techniques are required to catch trout. So while my friends continued to look for rising trout—which were almost nonexistent—I decided that first evening on the Madison that fishing nymphs was the only way to hook a few trout. One has to decide, after traveling over 2,500 miles to fish for trout, whether or not he or she wants to catch fish or practice fly casting. I chose the former. 

Because I traveled to Montana, anticipating excellent dry fly fishing, my fly boxes were well stocked with a variety of those flies. Sadly, my assortment did not contain many nymphs or wet flies. So my first mission was to purchase a supply of nymphs and split shot, before returning to the Madison. It was off to Bob Jacklin’s Fly Shop, a West Yellowstone landmark for all fly fishers passing through, to stock up.

Bob was a native Easterner like me; he grew up in New Jersey before heading to Montana. Unlike me, Bob figured it out right away. He stayed in Montana, while I returned to New York after graduating from the U of M, in Missoula. A decision I regret to this day.

After catching up with Bob, I went over to the counter where he kept a very large assortment of every popular Western fly pattern imaginable. I selected 12 prince nymphs; six in size 12 and six in size 14. Two small boxes of split shot completed my order.

The first time I fished the Madison River was just outside West Yellowstone, where the Route 191 bridge crosses the river. That road links West Yellowstone with Bozeman, which lies about 90 miles away. Just above that bridge, there is a very nice pool with a deep run next to the far bank—excellent holding water for trout. I had rigged my rod back at the car, where two prince nymphs were attached to my 5X tippet. I used a number 14 as the tail fly at the end of the tippet, and a size 12 prince about 18 inches above. Two BB spilt shots were clamped on between the flies. So I immediately returned to that pool.

While most anglers who fish nymphs these days attach a strike indicator several inches above their flies—depending on the depth—I do not. Strike indicators are useful for inexperienced anglers, or when trout are holding off the bottom. They are also an easier way to fish nymphs, in that everything is visual; if the indicator stops or goes under, the angler sets the hook. 

When trout are feeding near the bottom, which is most of the time, it is essential to make sure nymphs fish near or at that level. I don’t fly cast when fishing this way. Instead, I wade in at the head of a deep pool, “chuck” my flies upstream above where I want them to “fish,” and raise the rod tip as the flies sink and float back toward me. If the flies stop, or I feel a bump, the hook is set. 

Often, instead of a trout, my nymphs are stuck on the bottom. If you decide to fish this way, be prepared to lose a fair number of flies.

I call this method, “deep water, dead drift nymphing.” It takes patience and time to learn, but under the right circumstances, it is a deadly way to fish when there are no flies hatching and trout rising. 

So during my last trip to Montana, while my friends failed to move very many fish while casting dry flies, I landed several brown, rainbow and cutthroat trout, along with a number of Rocky Mountain whitefish, while fishing my nymphs near the bottom. I found the heads of deep pools, including the one by the Route 191 bridge best, and the period between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to be the most successful. A short window, but a very productive one.

I did have sporadic action during the day, fishing the reach just upstream of Quake Lake. The fish I caught, on this trip, ranged between 12 and 18 inches, with most in the 14-to-16 inch range.

So the next time you go on an extended trout fishing trip, and it is off-season for fly hatches, keep the “deep water dead drift nymphing” technique in mind. It will take some effort; you will lose some flies; but if you persist, I believe you will be successful, especially if you fish in the Rocky Mountain West. That method saved my fishing the last time I fished the Madison River, near West Yellowstone, MT.