WE SEE a fair number of fly fishing videos each month, and after a while we become a little numb to the endless repetition of cast-hook-shout-and-release segments that pass before our eyes. This month was different though, because we had a chance to see a master angler talk about fishing a river in a way that made you realize his is far from a momentary infatuation. In reality, Craig Mathews has been fishing the Madison — month in and month out — for far longer than many of us have been fly fishing. Perhaps that helps explain the notion I got as I listened to the narration that Mathews sounds a lot like the river, or at least like a person who has spent a long time in conversation with it.

The cinematography in this 77-minute DVD is nicely done. Phil Takatsuno, the cameraman and producer, effectively captures the cadence of the various types of fishing on the river — from nymph fishing to fishing emergers and dries to swinging streamers. He also pays close attention to something that I think is missing from a lot of fly fishing video: a sense of place. There are plenty of overcast days with well-insulated anglers in the foreground and windswept plains in the background, which if you've fished the Madison a lot you know can be standard fare on some of the best fishing days. The DVD spans the course of an entire "season" of fishing, from early spring to late fall, and viewers get a window on virtually every fishable period.

The video does a great job of showing insects — like these PMDs — at various stages of emergence.
copyright © 2007 Yellowstone Media

The DVD contains ten chapters, starting with an introduction to the Madison and moving through the various seasonal strategies according to the predominant insects and prey: Midges, Spring Baetis, Pale Morning Dun, Salmonflies, Caddis, Epeorus, Terrestrials, Fall Baetis, Streamers. There are plenty of closeups of duns and spinners, and underwater footage of nymphal stages showing situation, coloration, movement. Most chapters include film of fish taking each of the flies described in various stages of the emergences.

But the real value in this DVD is the advice Mathews dispenses. Here are some examples:

Midges: "Do whatever it takes to get close to the fish. Sometimes we walk on our knees or scootch along on our butts. You may only get one cast to a fish rising to midges."

Spring Baetis (Little Olives): "On the margins of faster current and in knee-deep water or less — that's where the larger fish can be found feeding on baetis duns."

A Madison river brown trout rises to a fall baetis.
copyright © 2007 Yellowstone Media

Pale Morning Duns: "PMDs come off best in the gravelly, riffley stretches of the Madison and there's tons of those places. From right about the Seven Mile Bridge all the way to the Junction, you'll find several locations where you'll find good Pale Morning Dun as well as Baetis emergences."

Nymphs: "We tie most of our nymphs unweighted. Many fish, especially big rainbows, like their nymphs to float right in the surface film."

Hydropsyche and Brachycentris (Mother's Day) Caddis: "You arrive on the river at 7:30 PM and you're readying your gear and you see all these fish rising — big explosive rises. Generally speaking these are small fish. About 8 to 8:30, as the sun starts to sink below the Gravelly Range, there's a period of calm, with no risers on the water. All of a sudden, you'll see a big back."

At several points in the video, insects like this fall baetis dun are shown in close-up, a great key to actual color and size.
copyright © 2007 Yellowstone Media

Terrestrials: "Put an ant on a dropper behind your hopper fly, and I guarantee you will catch four or five times more fish on the ant than on the hopper."

If there are weaknesses in the video, they're in the visual presentation of the chapter indexes and the very basic hatch chart at the end. These are rather ho-hum and don't match the quality of the film work. On the other hand the discussion by Mathews in the "Fly Patterns" chapter of the each of the various flies used to imitate the insects more than makes up for the those missteps.

I can't think of a reason why anyone who has fished or plans to fish the Madison wouldn't want to own this video. It had me looking at my late summer schedule more than once.

You can purchase "Fly Fishing the Madison River with Craig Mathews" online from Yellowstone Media or from Craig Mathews's Blue Ribbon Flies.