The middle part of the Madison is a long drift boat friendly section of river. From Varney Bridge to Lyons Bridge the river truly lives up to its nickname, the 50 mile riffle. It flattens out and is choppy with little breaks or features in the river to target. The bank/wading access is great along here, but too bad it isn't the best water to fish for a wading fisherman. Had to hike a long ways between boulders/slower water along the bank. I ended up calling it a day a little early when I couldn't see for what seemed like miles, no break in the rough chop.

There is just two short windows to fish the Firehole River. One is from the season opener in late May through June and the other is in early fall before the snow hits in October. The thermal activity causes the river to get too hot for trout in July to early September. The fish are small but there is a decent number of them (rainbows & browns). What makes up for their lack of size is the scenery and easy access from the road. It is probably the most popular river in Yellowstone to fish, and the fish in the river get pretty wise fast in the spring creek like water. I fished the middle section which is considered the best--this is between Old Faithful and the Firehole falls. The lower section is very small and flows into the Gibbon to form the Madison River within Yellowstone. There are tons of hot springs everywhere with sulphuric smoke rising from them. I came across a herd of Bison which didn't seem to mind my presence. 

Fished the lower river just above Ashton and later drove up to the Coffee Pot section on the upper. The famous spring creek section of the "Railroad Ranch" opens in mid June. The salmonflys were out on the lower but were not out yet on the upper. For the first time ever I had a fish snap a hook. It wasn't a cheap hook either (Fasna #12 streamer)--it was as large fish but I couldn't tell how big as the water was very murky. It felt very heavy and had to bow the rod down as he moved about as I felt the 3x fluorocarbon coming under stress. The hook might have been weakened by some previous snags along the bottom or could have been a defective hook that was weak at the bend.