Whether it's the precision of technical casts with microscopic mayflies or the thrill of pulling large streamers along undercuts, fly fishing here is undeniably an angler's dream. After years of spending time on this home river, here is my favorite place to fly fish on the Madison River.
$3 Bridge Madison River Fishing Access
About an hour and a half outside of Bozeman lies one of the Madison River's premier access sites: Three Dollar Bridge. Maintained by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, this fishing site offers nearly 100 acres of public land stretching approximately two miles along the river.
Thanks to the contribution from Olliffe Ranch, there's a block management area extending eastward, connecting to Raynold's Pass access site and further expanding the accessible area. This amalgamation results in over 2,100 acres of public land and approximately 3.5 miles of direct access to the Madison River
This stretch of river is walk-wade fishing only, meaning, you will not see many drift floaters in this area since they are required to exit the boat in order to fish, somewhat evening the playing field for those on foot. Full of boulders and fast moving riffles, trout seemingly have endless holding areas. When the fishing is on - it is on - and it seems that every pocket has an eager Montana Rainbow Trout waiting to be caught, there is no other place quite like it.