Beta

GuidedFloats is in beta. The full site launches March 1, 2027. The mobile app follows.

Guides: claim before March 1, 2027 and your first full season of Premium is free. Claim your founding spot →

Log in List your guide serviceFor guides
Home › Waters › Montana › Madison River
River · Southwest Montana · Montana

Madison River Fishing Guides

Fifty-mile riffle from Quake Lake to Ennis fished mostly from drift boats for wild browns and rainbows, with strong salmonfly and caddis hatches and a mountain whitefish population that fills slow days.

A freestone river running through a rocky mountain valley in autumn in the Northern Rockies

Map of the Madison River

10 numbered points: 9 access points, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 7, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (9)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 10 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Raynolds' Pass Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP · Hwy 287 mile 8		Access / boat ramp44.82871, -111.47932Top of the float water below Quake Lake. 31 miles northwest of West Yellowstone on Hwy 287, then 0.5 mile south to the bridge.
2Three Dollar Bridge Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP		Access / boat ramp44.83193, -111.51416One mile downstream of Raynolds' Pass Bridge; 39 miles south of Ennis on Hwy 287.
3USGS 06038800 - Madison River
USGS monitoring location		USGS gauge44.88866, -111.58089The gauge the whole valley reads before deciding whether to float or wade.
4Lyons Bridge Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP · Forest Service		Access / boat ramp44.89910, -111.5925931 miles south of Ennis on Hwy 287. Jointly managed with the Forest Service.
5McAtee Bridge Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP		Access / boat ramp45.09665, -111.6615130 miles south of Ennis on Hwy 287, then 1 mile west to the river on gravel.
6Varney Bridge Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP		Access / boat ramp45.22900, -111.751958 miles south of Ennis on Hwy 287, right onto Varney Road, then 4 miles west to the river.
7Eight Mile Ford Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP		Access / boat ramp45.29998, -111.754051 mile west of Ennis on Secondary Hwy 287, then 4 miles south on the county road.
8Burnt Tree Hole Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP		Access / boat ramp45.31492, -111.748691 mile west of Ennis on Secondary Hwy 287, then 2 miles south on the county road.
9Ennis Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP · Ennis		Access / boat ramp45.34442, -111.723090.5 mile southeast of Ennis on Secondary Hwy 287 - the town ramp.
10Valley Garden Fishing Access Site
Montana FWP		Access / boat ramp45.36725, -111.705390.25 mile south of Ennis to milepost 48, left on Jeffers Road, then 2 miles north. Head of the channels above Ennis Lake.

Guides on the Madison River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Madison River

Fifty-mile riffle from Quake Lake to Ennis fished mostly from drift boats for wild browns and rainbows, with strong salmonfly and caddis hatches and a mountain whitefish population that fills slow days.

This water needs a real photo

The photo at the top of this page is not Madison River.

It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.

Add a photo of this water See the badges

Pioneer badgeUnclaimed

Add a photo of this water

Landscape, not fish — the water itself. Reviewed by hand before it appears. The first one published here earns the Pioneer badge.

Never published. It is how the badge is held for you until member accounts open.

Posting to Madison River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. Landscape orientation looks best at the top of the page. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name printed under the photo and on your badge. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Madison River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Madison River cfs

Now: 779 cfs, read 4:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 06038800, Madison River at Kirby Ranch nr Cameron MT).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

From the water

No logged trips yet. Be the first to put this water on your map.

Log this water

Fished it or cleaned it? Log in or create a free account to log a trip with photos and earn the waterway badge.

Questions

What is the current flow on the Madison River?

As of Oct 18, 4:30 pm, the USGS gauge Madison River at Kirby Ranch nr Cameron MT reads 779 cfs, the 12th percentile for this date, with water temperature 55 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Madison River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout on the Madison River in Montana.

Are there fishing guides on the Madison River?

GuidedFloats lists 4 guides and outfitters on the Madison River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Madison River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Montana agency site: https://fwp.mt.gov/fish/regulations