Start with Callibaetis Nymph (12-16) on a slow figure-of-eight retrieve. Rainbows respond to more active retrieves — try short strips between pauses. If that does not produce, switch depth or speed before changing the pattern entirely.
Fish early and late, try deeper during the heat of the day with a fast-sinking line.
Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.
Good ripple suits both bank and boat. Bank: work inflows, dam walls, and points. Boat: broadside drift covering wind lanes.
Hatch predictions
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Hatch predictions
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Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.
A reasonable day here, though cloud isn't quite in the sweet spot.
Ennis Lake is a shallow Madison-river reservoir, and shallow water cooks fast — by high summer it warms up to the point where it's a real welfare concern, not just a slow bite. It holds browns and rainbows, and it fishes best in the cool shoulders of spring and fall when the water still has some life in it. Work the inflow channels with a leech or a chironomid in those windows, and when the lake gets warm in midsummer, do the fish a favor and go somewhere else.
EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'Ennis Lake' (MT41F005_030), 2021 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Not Supporting. Listed impairment causes: Habitat Alterations, Hydrologic Alteration, Metals Other Than Mercury. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.
Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.
EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · MT41F005_030
Ennis Lake is a shallow Madison-river reservoir, and shallow water cooks fast — by high summer it warms up to the point where it's a real welfare concern, not just a slow bite.
Start with Callibaetis Nymph (12-16) on a slow figure-of-eight retrieve. Rainbows respond to more active retrieves — try short strips between pauses. If that does not produce, switch depth or speed before changing the pattern entirely.
Fish early and late, try deeper during the heat of the day with a fast-sinking line.
Evening tends to be the best period in summer — stay late if you can for a sedge or spinner fall.
Good ripple suits both bank and boat. Bank: work inflows, dam walls, and points. Boat: broadside drift covering wind lanes.
Hatch predictions
See the full sub-surface read with Pro.
Start free trial14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Hatch predictions
Top prey shown — see all 5 with Pro.
Start free trial14-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.
A reasonable day here, though cloud isn't quite in the sweet spot.
Ennis Lake is a shallow Madison-river reservoir, and shallow water cooks fast — by high summer it warms up to the point where it's a real welfare concern, not just a slow bite. It holds browns and rainbows, and it fishes best in the cool shoulders of spring and fall when the water still has some life in it. Work the inflow channels with a leech or a chironomid in those windows, and when the lake gets warm in midsummer, do the fish a favor and go somewhere else.
EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'Ennis Lake' (MT41F005_030), 2021 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Not Supporting. Listed impairment causes: Habitat Alterations, Hydrologic Alteration, Metals Other Than Mercury. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.
Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.
EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · MT41F005_030
