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Mad report

3.2K views 20 replies 7 participants last post by  skatfish1  
#1 ·
Flow was like 174 .....ice building alone banks and globs of slushy $hit can be seen floating down the river......next wks forecast doesn't look much better .......I'm starting to suffer from withdrawal.....hopefully this 5-8'' of white crap , rain , ice bump the flow and we get some warmer weather hopefully buy march ..... oh how nice it would be to have overcast sky's and a flow of about 300cfm ..with temps about 45-50
 
#5 ·
Well I went. Today wasn't my day. I did have 2 fish hit a streamer but not very aggressively so there was no hook up.......I try nymphs in a few spots that have been good for me all winter....but nothing I used worked......last Sunday a friend and I fished and hooked 10 fish....today it wasn't going to be my day ....called it quotes by 1 pm
 
#7 ·
Thank you. Was the water super low and tough to fish?
no it wasn't low ....flow was like 235 Saturday evening ...The river did have a very...very ...slight tint to it , most likely to the snow melt and bump in flow....The mad can be frustrating ....I have had days like this before where nothing seems to work ....maybe it was the bright sun ...Maybe it was the bump in flow ....Never seems to make any sense ...Last Sunday I had 5 fish and all of a sudden it just turned off....Ive had days where I get as many on streamers as I do nymphs ....then you have a day where a streamers saves the day ....then the next day you cant buy a fish with a streamer .... and nymphs can catch everything in the river....High water low water it just doesn't seem to matter completely.....I guess only the fish know .
 
#8 ·
Fishing was good Saturday until the sun came out. Nymphs sucked, but the fish where going bananas on unweighted streamers fished just under the surface. Nothing on deep streamers. Basically the opposite of what I expected lol. Big fish are out in the shallow crap though. This high water should get the fishing ramped up
 
#9 ·
Fishing was good Saturday until the sun came out. Nymphs sucked, but the fish where going bananas on unweighted streamers fished just under the surface. Nothing on deep streamers. Basically the opposite of what I expected lol. Big fish are out in the shallow crap though. This high water should get the fishing ramped up


I kinda figured sat. morning was going to be the time . But I had to open the shop for a few guys to work so .....The sun was my friend all winter , but things are starting to reverse now .....maybe.
 
#10 ·
Im not familiar with mad at all and live almost 2 hours away from it. but I am getting really desperate to get out and fish this weekend. So I was wondering if the flow is good enough to attempt to fish(or what flow chart to look at on usgs because theres 4 different locations). Also I was wondering if someone could tell me where an access to the trout section of the river is? I'm not looking for secret spots or anything just a place to walk in and access the river.

any help appreciated thanks
 
#12 ·
This was posted a while ago. I stored it in my notes in iphone. Very good info.

Mad river between urbana and west liberty info (pimtown access as well)...if the eagle city gauge is below 400 it is fishable.......if the Urbana gauge is below 300 it is fishable .......generally at these #s you can fish nymphs and streamers and wade without much trouble.......if the eagle city gauge is below say 350 nymphs will be good and the water pretty clear........I've fished the mad with the eagle city gauge at 500 and did well it just depends on what your fishing and water clarity.......if the water has a slight stain to it and its cloudy weather......get your big streamers out and your sink tip and go beat the banks
Access at rt 55 crossing south urbana. Access at rt 296 and 29 north urbana.
Access from Rt 36 west of urbana you can fish upstream at any of the next 6 bridges or downstream all the way to Springfield, the fish are there.
 
#14 ·
thanks for all the info guys looks like it is a 3hr drive to the closest part of the mad for me.... so Im not sure if ill head that way or not this weekend but I would definitely like to make a visit in the near future.

Don't think id drive 3hrs this weekend...flow was at 642 at lunch time...the rain will push it up.....and it will most likely be muddy again ....today would have been good for big steamers ..wading would have been kinda hairy in spots .....
 
#16 ·
I got out sunday morning. I had a float planned but my partner backed out, as he can't do well when the flows are up. So I had planned on haveing the wife drop me and my yak at millerstown . But she was sleeping good and it was cold sunday morning so I snuck out without waking her. I grabbed the gear bag , vest and 2wt and headed up north near west liberty . Rigged the rod with nymph I tie that works well for the Hendrickson and March Brown's and Cahills in size 14 and dropped a caddies larva bead head below it. Things started out slow for the first couple hrs then I finally found some fish in a ripple. Landed 3 and lost 1 . headed back down to the lower river to fish the 5wt but every bring was pretty crowded.....so I just called it a day and went home.....easy chair ,tv, few cold beers and a nap sounded great.....hope to float next wkend and see what has changed on the river with that last high water we had......River was in great shape sunday
 
#17 ·
Can anyone confirm what MRO is saying in their latest (4/13) report?

The big news is that we did have reports of Hendricksons popping in the mid sections of the river yesterday. With that sun and heat it had to happen! Fish were gobbling up the nymphs early and then began rising in the mid to late afternoon. Parachute Adams #14 as well as Hendrickson dries were taking fish on the surface....and regularly. About time! Seems that the Spring dry fly season is upon us! Should be seeing Hendricksons throughout the river system for the next few weeks and will begin looking for spinner falls to provide good to great evening fishing any day now. Look for warm and still evenings and look up!

my buddy & I were there on Sunday & saw nothing as what is described above
 
#20 ·
I was there yesterday. I did see a few bugs ..... but I was out fishing big streamers....so I can't say much about the hatch.....but I saw them down low Tremont bridge. I hope to float this wkend a or nymph on the bottom and a pt soft will be my offering......not really a dry fly guy.