Back in February, Ben Chorn won our Orvis Travel Contest. His prize was a gift certificate that he could use toward any trip in the new Orvis Adventures catalog, so he booked a day on the Madison River. He even made a video of the trip, which he sent us, along with a note:
I wanted to say thanks again for the contest, and for the $500 gift card for the Orvis trip.
I took my girlfriend with me on a very snowy day to fish the Madison River with guide Matthew Long, and we had a great time. This was her first time fly fishing (she thought she wouldn’t catch anything), and we both had a blast. Despite the snow, we both stayed warm.
He included a few screen grabs, as well (below). If you haven’t yet done so, check out the Orvis Adventures catalog.
It was a cold and snowy day on the water. Only good fishing could warm things up.
All photos by Ben Chorn
Ben shows off a sweet little Madison brown trout.
Aha! Now it’s all smiles!
I took my son on a float down the Upper Madison this past summer. That was the best trip ever. We used Aaron Broughton as our guide. It was a phenomenal day on the river. We ended up on the Madison when the Yellowstone mudded out the night before. My son, who was 12 at the time, caught more than his share of fish. We even had a unique end to the day. Aaron saw some odd clouds coming in during the last mile. He told me to cast to a rock and catch a fish he knew was there and we’d book it to the dock to hopefully avoid the weather. I caught one as prescribed and he rowed like no tomorrow. I swear that boat got up on plane. We passed about five other boats till fishing, but I had to trust Aaron’s instincts. He was right. The second we shut the door of the truck golf ball sized hail let loose. We waited to hear from some of the guys in the boats that didn’t come in like we did. They were pretty bruised up. I shot some video from my phone of the hail storm that you can see here. You can see the entire photo/video set here. That should be enough to convince you to make the trip yourself.
I thought there were big fish in the Madison? 😉 Looks like a fun day regardless of the snow!