Mad River Fishing Regulations

Mad River Streamside Report July

July 17, 1999

HATCHES: Tricos. The weather was hot and humid. There has been a drought for a couple of months. The flow in the Mad River is normal, but there is a lot more algae and water is off color.

July 18, 1999 Hatches: Tricos and Olive Caddis. The weather was hot, but not as humid. One passing shower. August 9, 1999 HATCHES: Tricos, Sulfurs, and Midges. Match with the Trico #26. The hatch was very strong, but over before 9:00 a.m. It was so strong that every spider web was full of tricos and midges. The sulfurs were #10 or #14. They started hatching around 12:00 p.m. It was very sparce. The midges were #22 and #24.

July 27, 2001

The river is running a little cloudy after the rain we have gotten the last two days. Fished early in the morning and had some success with black ants. Caught 4 browns and several chubs.

July 23, 2001

Fished the PM in Michigan for the last three days. For those of you looking for a wonderful trip I would highly suggest The Orvis PM lodge which sits about 200 feet off the river.

We left early Sunday morning...and after driving about six hours and changing a flat tire in a torrential downpour we arrived early enough to hit the river for some wonderful early evening fishing. Lots of smaller browns and rainbows, but boy did the rainbows put up a wonderful fight! Lots of fry fly fishing and the rainbows simply attacked the dry flies.

On the second day we floated the fly only section of the PM. Caught at least 8-10 brown and rainbows that were easily 18-20 inches long. It's simply exciting to see a nice size rainbow rise through crystal clear water to slam a dry on the PM. Not bad fishing for the end of July.

The following day we enjoyed the festivities of Troutarama in Baldwin, Michigan. The locals claim its just another excuse to fish, drink beer, and tell lies. All in all not a bad trip during the hot days of July.

July 20, 2001

First there was Ali vs. Frazier, then there was a large 19 inch brown trout vs. myself Friday night. Fishing about 8:30 p.m. I landed probably one of the largest brown trout I ever caught on the Mad. The battle took nearly twenty minutes and he took me downstream about 50 yards before I finally landed her. The monster brown tried everything to get loose. It moved around a log and later a huge rock trying to break free. As I was releasing it I noticed it was as long as my elbow to my fingertips. I happily released it to fight another day.

Perhaps Champaign County needs to construct a public swimming pool. Two nights ago I stopped at the Rt. 36 bridge to fish for an hour or so. In the pool just above the spillway nearly 10 children were swimming in the Mad. Then later the next day I was just finishing fishing when a pick-up pulled up. The man asked me if I minded if he allowed some of his buddies to go fishing. He backed his truck up to the bottom of the bridge and out jumped 8 dogs. He and his dogs happily swam in the river. Before too much longer we might have to exchange our wildlife officer for a lifeguard along Rt. 36.

July 18, 2001

The recent rain has not bothered the Mad much today. The water was a little discolored, but not bad. Fished for about three hours this morning and caught at least 10 browns..ranging from about 6 inches to about 15 inches. Caught two that were recently tagged. Light Cahills and what looked like tricos swarmed the river. Caught two smaller browns using a dry Light Cahill #18.

The Madmen Chapter of the Trout Unlimited will be at the Rt. 36 bridge 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning completing an insect sample. For those of you that have never done this before I encourage you to come out and learn more about what trout eat during July!