One of the most frequent questions I am asked when visiting anglers are planning their fishing trip to Montana is “when is the best time to come out”. That question is impossible to answer so I generally try to feel out what is most important to someone: nice weather, lots of action, dry fly fishing, big trout, etc. If your top priority is catching big brown trout the answer is easier: October. There is no better time to fish Montana for large trout than October (and even November). Brown trout which tend to make up the majority of the trophy size trout that we see each year spawn in November and early December. Browns are notorious for becoming more aggressive prior to the spawn. The aggressive nature of browns in the fall combined with the fact that they are on the move running up river and sometimes into tributaries can produce some heart stopping action for lucky and persistent anglers. Late fall fishing isn’t just about targeting huge trout, there can also be some great dry fly fishing over the baetis hatch. For most of our guides, however, we get caught up in chasing really big fish in the autumn months. Hunting huge browns in the fall isn’t for everyone and if you are going to play the game there are a few important guidelines worth considering.

Dress for Success
October and November in the Northern Rockies can be notoriously unpredictable. Days can be warm and sunny or the snow can be blowing sideways. Make sure you prepare for any kind of weather from hot and sunny to cold and wet. If you are travelling all the way to Montana to chase big October browns you don’t want to be shut out just because some bad weather blows in. Although October and November are dry months, there will always be some early winter storms that move through and these often produce great conditions for browns that love low light conditions. I still wear gore tex waders but I also have long underwear and fleece pants to layer underneath as well as plenty of layers on top. Don’t forget the gloves and winter hat either.

Arrive at Peak Times
Although big browns begin moving in late September, the best fall run fishing isn’t until after the middle of October and sometimes as late as mid November. The peak fishing on the Madison run above Hebgen in Yellowstone is usually the third week of October while monster browns on the Missouri usually don’t start showing up until November.

Throw Giant Streamers
Most anglers know that big browns are predators and that fishing streamers is a great way to target them. If you are going to throw streamers in the fall don’t underestimate how big of a fly a huge brown will eat. I have seen big browns regularly eat relatively big trout in the 15” range – they often can’t swallow them all at once and spend a day with a big tail sticking out of their mouth. If you want to move fish over 24” make sure you are stripping the biggest streamers that you can find. I usually have to tie my own tandem hook streamers that are around 10” long. These massive flies are best fished on a seven or eight weight. They won’t put you into many small trout but if you throw them long enough you are sure to see some huge fish at some point.

Try Egg Patterns
Whitefish, brown trout and brook trout are all fall spawners which means there are a lot of eggs bouncing around the rivers in October and November. Although huge browns tend to prefer a big meal, eggs are so packed with nutrients that even the largest browns will still eat them. There are days when fishing egg patterns under an indicator will outfish every other method for big browns.

Target Spawning Runs
Although any large river that holds big browns can produce a monster in the fall, targeting fisheries that receive a spawning run of browns from a lake or larger river downstream is a good option in late October and November. Most of these fall run fisheries are no secret. Expect to see some other anglers if you are chasing browns on these fisheries that include the Madison in Yellowstone Park, The Lewis Channel in Yellowstone and the Missouri between the lakes. There are other locations that aren’t as well known that also produce a great run of fall browns if you do some legwork and experimenting. Even on the famous fall run fisheries like the Madison in the park there is always plenty of room and on a weekday with a bit of fall weather you will often see very few other anglers. November fishing is also extremely productive and the fishing pressure dramatically drops off with very few visiting anglers in the state and most of the locals out hunting.

If you ask most avid fly fisherman to recount some of their most memorable days on the water, many will tell tales of dry fly loving trout on their favorite waters. Watching a wild trout suck down a dainty mayfly spinner is exciting. Keeping your cool when a monster brown crushes your foam hopper in an explosion of water and adipose spots is not even an option! We frequently field questions that have to do with finding great dry fly fishing. The challenge of dry fly fishing in Montana and elsewhere is that most trout take less than 10% of their diet from the surface. Most days on most rivers anglers will have much more success “catching” when fishing subsurface with nymph patterns which best imitate the a trout’s dominant natural food source. There are times and places, however, where trout become surface oriented and feed almost exclusively on top. Although nearly every fishery in Montana has periods of times when the dry fly fishing heats up, here are a few of of our favorite fisheries and “events” that produce great surface action year in and year out.

Later Winter Midge Hatches on the Ruby
The Ruby River is a small wade fishery near Sheridan, MT. Below the Ruby Dam the river receives daily hatches of chironomids (aka midges). In February, March and April anglers hungry for surface action can find some consistent late morning dry fly action during the hatch. The surface action usually lasts for about 2-3 hours but anglers can still bend rods before and after by nymph fishing. In late April the midge hatch overlaps with the blue winged olive as an added bonus. The Bighorn River near Ft. Smith is another consistent producer of midge eating trout in the late winter.

Skwalas on the Western rivers
At the end of March and early April fisherman in the Western half of the state get excited about the Skwala stonefly. This smaller size 12 stone is olive in color and hatches in just enough abundance to encourage trout to look up. The dry action is often just in the afternoon when the water warms and it isn’t as explosive as post run off hatches of golden stones and salmonflies, but it sure is nice when there is still snow on the ground and you are yearning to see a good eat on the surface!

The baetis hatch on the Gallatin
The baetis (aka blue winged olive) can produce outstanding dry fly fishing on local rivers in April and May (and then again in October). The Gallatin is one of my favorite rivers to target the spring baetis hatch. The caveat with the baetis hatch on the Gallatin is that conditions need to be just right. If the weather is too warm early snow melt can temporarily bring the river up and spoil the dry fly fishing. Sunny days aren’t the best for catching the hatch either, even though you can usually find a few risers. If you catch the Gallatin when it is still low before snowmelt on a cloudy overcast day in early May you can experience some of the best match the hatch fishing around. The river seems to come alive with rising trout that are furiously attacking the small size 18 insects. Fortunately similar fishing can occur on the Madison, Yellowstone, Boulder and Missouri during this prolific hatch.

Spring creek baetis action in April and May
Spring creeks nearly show up a lot in the “best dry fly fishing” discussions. The first consistently good dry fly fishing on the spring creeks arrives with the spring baetis. As is to be expected on these fertile ground water fed fisheries the hatch is thick and abundant. Late April and May baetis fishing can produce several hours of consistent surface action on legendary waters like Armstrong, Depuy, Nelson, and McCoy spring creeks.

Early May Mother’s Day Caddis on the Lower Madison and Yellowstone
One of the most prolific hatches of the year is the explosive Mother’s Day Caddis hatch on the Lower Madison and Yellowstone Rivers. The hatch starts at the end of April but really picks up steam in early May. The hatch on the Yellowstone often occurs just before run off and on big water years or when there is an early warm spell the melting snow can spoil the action. On days when you catch the Yellowstone just right it is some of the most amazing dry fly fishing in the world. Waves of fluttering caddis pop at the rives surface as trout feed with reckless abandon. Back eddies are sometimes completely covered with mats of mating insects. The Lower Madison also has a terrific Mother’s Day hatch. The Lower Madison is protected by some of the dams on the river which makes is a more reliable river for the hatch on years when the Yellowstone gets dirty early. This is a “must fish” event for all locals and many visiting anglers.

Spring Creek PMD fishing in June and early July
Although spring creeks are always a great place to find “heads” and can produce great surface action during spring and fall baetis hatches as well as late summer terrestrials, nothing rivals the pale morning dun. The “PMD” is a medium sized goldilocks mayfly. The insect is just big enough to interest larger trout but small enough that trout are not easily filled up by the insect. The hatch occurs in thick abundance daily from mid June to mid July on legendary spring creeks like McCoy, Nelson, DePuy, Armstrong, Benhart and Thompson. Getting rods on these private ranches during the hatch can be difficult since some dates book out nearly a year in advance. Spring creek trout are always smart and spooky and require technical fly patterns and careful casting presentations. These wily trout drop their guard a few notches during the PMD hatch as they become intoxicated with the tasty little arthropods. “Spooked” trout that normally go down for the day after a bad cast sometimes get back into a feeding rhythm just 10 minutes later when the hatch picks up in intensity.

Madison River Salmonfly Fishing in later June/early July
The salmonfly is the largest aquatic insect in North America. This massive stonefly reaches 3 inches in length and provides enough nutrition to lure even the largest trout in the river to the surface. The salmonfly represents the best opportunity to catch a monster trout over 25” on the surface. Catching big trout on the big bug is far from garuanteed and frustration is experienced just as often (or more often!) than success. Once you hook a monster brown that blows up a size 4 rouge stone you will be forever changed! The chance at reliving that experience is enough to keep throwing the big bug when the hatch is on the water. Salmonflies are notoriously hard to catch since they only occur for a few days a year on any single stretch of water. The Madison River is one of the most consistent places to find the big bug because it is clear when the hatch arrives. Other rivers like the Yellowstone also produce a great hatch but sometimes it occurs during run off.

Attractor Dry Fishing In July
About a week after the big freestone rivers first clear, big attractor dry flies begin to lure hungry trout to the surface. The Yellowstone, Boulder, Stillwater, Gallatin and a few others are a few of our favorites for lights out fishing with giant wulffs, pmxs and faom attractors. Casting big bushy dries on stout tippet in run and gun pocket water is simply a riot! The rivers are usually still on the high side even though they are clear so we usually either fish out of drift boats or small rafts during this great window since wading is still a challenge.

Yellowstone River Hopper Fishing
Montana is famous for its great grasshopper fishing. The state is filled with broad flat valleys filled with irrigated alfalfa that provided a perfect home for the succulent insects. Trout simply can’t resist hoppers and anglers eagerly await the late summer season when the grasshoppers become mature, grow wings and begin flying. The Yellowstone river offers some of the best hopper fishing in the state. The perk of fishing big foam hoppers on the “Stone” is that you are always in the game for a trophy size trout on a dry. The best hopper fishing is often shortly after they first get their wings which is usually late July or early August depending on the year. After a few weeks of seeing different flavors of artificial presentations they slowly get a bit wiser and short strikes can become more common. On years when we receive a long Indian summer great hopper fishing can be experienced well into September.

The “Flying Ant” on the Upper Madison
If you spend enough time in the spectacular Upper Madison valley wade fishing you will begin to notice giant ant hills along the banks. In late August, usually around August 22nd or 23rd winged ants leave their homes to mate and establish new colonies. The “ant hatch” can fill the skies with large black and red two toned winged insects that trout absolutely love. This is a short lived event and only lasts a day or two each year but when you catch it just right the action can be rewarding. Fortunately, this is also hopper time so there will always be some fish looking up even if you miss the ants.

Small Stream Hopper Fishing in Late Summer
In late August and early September some of the trout on the larger and easily accessed rivers become a little wise to big foam hopper patterns you get less confident takes and more trout chewing on the rubber legs. This is the time of year when the some of the smaller fisheries really turn on. We don’t want to name names to give away some of these little gems. Some of them are access from public points like bridges and others are on private ranches that we have permission on. Terrestrial fishing on the “off the beaten” path waters around Montana can be absolutely awesome in the late summer!

October baetis hatches on the Yellowstone, Madison, Gallatin, Missouri and Spring Creeks
The last hurrah of really good dry fly fishing is the fall baetis hatch. The “blue winged olives” show back up in late September but really get going again in October and early November. The baetis occurs on most fisheries in Montana and the rivers named above are just a sampling of the locations that can receive a good hatch. As in the spring, the intensity of the hatch increases logarithmically with cloudy and overcast conditions. Even on sunny days fish are often looking up even when the hatch is sparse. A size 18 or 20 parachute adams can perform wonders this time of year on the big rivers. On the spring creeks more technical cripples and emerges often do the trick. There is often a smattering of grey drakes and mahogany duns that coincide with the baetis. These larger mayflies are always sparse but the trout often prefer them and a larger size 12 grey wulff can be a productive pattern on the larger waters in the fall.

As a kid growing up in Pennsylvania I dreamed of visiting the Rocky Mountain West to fish those big rivers that I saw in the fly fishing magazines. Western rivers seemed so different compared to the smaller fisheries that I spent my youth on and I was a bit intimidated when I first arrived in Montana on a summer long geology field trip sponsored by Penn State. I quickly fell in love with the massive feel of the biggest rivers and the wide open surroundings. There were definitely some new skills that I needed to develop to be successful on the bigger rivers but I found that the techniques and strategies that I had developed in Pennsylvania also worked when fly fishing in Montana. Some of the most talented anglers I have had a chance to guide often come from Pennsylvania and other eastern states and those fertile wild trout fisheries of the Appalachian mountains are a great training ground for some of the world’s best fly fisherman. If you are an Eastern fly fisherman considering a trip to Montana you will be happy to know that your skills honed on your home rivers will put you in a great position to find success on Western waters. Here are five skills that I learned in PA that have helped me on our local Montana rivers.

Fishing hatches
The rivers and streams in the ridge and valley province of Pennsylvania have some of the most abundant and diverse hatch sequences of any waters I have had the opportunity to visit. Few locations can compare to the overlapping series of aquatic insect emmergences that happen on a single day in late May on waters like Penns Creek, Big Fishing Creek and others. Spending many a day on the fertile limestone streams of central Pennsylvania helped me to pay close attention to the different life cycles of the varied insects. I learned to differentiate between a trout feeding on duns, emmergers or spinners. I also began to recognize when trout were on caddis with splashy rises verses the more delicate takes of mayfly species. I learned that trout would switch from one species (or development stage) to another during the course of an evening and that I had to be constantly aware of these changing preferences if I wanted to be successful during each stage of the hatch. These lessons have carried with me when I am fishing Western waters. Trout feeding during an intense pmd hatch on the Missouri can be just a selective as trout rising to sulphurs on the Yellow Breeches. On some freestone waters such as the Madison river, the hatches do not appear as intense but the same transitions from nymphs, to duns, to spinners still occur and the conditioning to always be on the watch for this frequently pays off.

Getting close
One of the best lessons that I learned as a kid was how to get close to trout and still catch them. My first experiences with a fly rod in Pennsylvania occurred on laurel choked brook trout streams in the Allegheny National Forest. Because of the thick canopy of trees long back casts were not an option and I had no choice but to sneak in close to make a cast. Western streams and rivers are much more open than their Eastern counterparts and anglers are not forced to get close. I have found that getting as close as possible to the holding water is still a great strategy. The closer you are to the fish the better the presentation will be and the faster the hook set will be. It is very easy to get caught swinging for the fences by making longer than needed casts simply because the wide open landscape permits it.

Spring creeks and tail waters
Pennsylvania is home to some of the most fertile spring fed streams in the world. These productive fisheries are home to high concentrations of healthy wild trout and abundant macro invertebrates. The glassy currents on waters like the Letort and Big Spring require stealthy approaches and carefully placed casts. When fishing these waters as a youth I learned that I needed to carefully plan out each cast before approaching a run. The angle of my position to the fish was extremely important and I began to understand that finding ways to present the fly to the fish before the leader definitely increased the chances for success. Montana is also home to some of the worlds finest spring creeks along with dam released tail water fisheries like the Bighorn, Missouri and Beaverhead that produce spring creek like conditions. My experiences on the Eastern limestone streams helped me to feel right at home when I first visited the legendary Paradise Valley spring creeks like Armstrong and Nelson.

Small streams are fun too!
Even larger Pennsylvania trout streams with the exceptions of tail waters like the Delaware and Allegheny would be considered small by Western standards. When I first moved to the West I spent most of my time on the famous blue ribbon rivers like the Madison, Yellowstone and Missouri because fishing such a massive body of water for trout was new and exciting. As time went on I began to explore the bountiful smaller fisheries that reminded me of home. One of the great things about Montana is that nearly every body of water no matter how big or small seems to hold trout in the Western half of the state. Montana also allows public access to any fishery as long as anglers remain inside of the high water mark.

How to thoroughly work a run
Although there is still plenty of water in Pennsylvania to enjoy there also a lot more people. On some waters like Penns Creek or Spring Creek during famous hatches like the Green Drake or Sulphur the influx of anglers coming for the hatch limited the amount of water available. I learned that if I was in a good run that I had better make the best of it and thoroughly work the water before moving on. Montana rivers receive much less pressure compared to the East and we have the luxury of moving a long way without worrying about being crowded by numerous other anglers (with some exception like the easily accessed wade areas on the Bighorn). Although some days covering as much water as possible is the way to go there are times when slowing down and really dialing into a run is beneficial. When I know that trout are heavily concentrated in a run I will make a few passes through it. If I am nymph fishing I often make a shallow pass with less weight and a shorter indicator to pick off the more aggressive fish first. The shallower rig allows me to detect strikes faster and get a higher percentage of hookups. Eventually I will work the run with a heavier rig and longer leader to get to fish that are in the deeper and heavier water that are not willing to move far to feed.

There is a lot more to Montana fishing than just the catching, but getting a few trout to the net never hurts!  Here are a few tips that most of our guides use with our fishing guests to instantly help folks get more hook ups with very little extra effort.

Use foam patterns when fishing dries

We still fish a lot of great traditional patterns like the stimulator and royal wulff when fishing attractor dry flies and fur ants or Dave’s hoppers for terrestrials, but many of our guides have come to rely more and more on foam patterns when guiding.  The beauty of foam patterns is that they never sink!  By the end of the day this results in your flies spending more time on the water and lest time in the air.  Even a high floating hair wing attractor like a parachute madam X can eventually get water logged or pulled under water on a strong mend.  When a foam hopper gets pulled under while mending it just floats back to the surface allowing the drift to continue without a new cast.  Foam flies simply spend more time on the water and result in more trout to the net by the end of the day.

Use less weight nymph fishing

During most of the late spring, summer and early fall the metabolism of trout is in high gear and they are willing to move a bit for your subsurface presentations.  Many anglers make the mistake of fishing too much weight on their nymph rigs with the idea that they need to be scraping the bottom with their flies.  Nymphs do not always need to be right on the bottom since trout will frequently move up in the water column to intercept them.  If your flies spend less time on the bottom they also get snagged less resulting in more fishing time.  Removing some weight also results in less tangles while casting which also effectively increases the amount of time that you are actually “fishing” during the course of a day.  Finally, strikes are easier to detect since you are spending less time trying to decipher the difference between a tick on the bottom and a take.  When you are constantly bumping bottom you either false set which ends a drift, or assume that some takes are rocks and don’t set the hook at all.

Make less false casts

Most guides hate to see good water float by while their clients are making false casts.  Many fly fisherman get into a rhythm when casting and often make many more false casts than needed between their presentations to the trout.  False casts should only be made when a dry fly needs to be aired out or the effective length of the cast needs to be changed.  Often a simple up and down cast is all that is needed to reposition the flies.  By consciously focusing to reduce your false casting as much as possible your flies will spend a higher percentage of the day in the “trout zone” and result in more hook ups.

Raise your rod height

Once your flies are on the water try lifting your rod hand and extending it towards the flies.  The rod should almost be parallel to the water (tilting the rod up can pull the flies toward you unless it is a very short cast).  By lifting the rod higher of off the water and extending your arm you will be reducing the amount of line on the water that is susceptible to drag and get a better presentation during your drift.  A higher rod position also makes mending easier.  This easy modification to the rod geometry will result in a more natural presentation and hopefully draw a few more strikes from willing trout.

In a land where float fishing reigns supreme, we have great success on both our guided trips and our own personal fishing when wading.  Float fishing obviously has some tremendous advantages such as covering vast amounts of water and accessing stretches of river that would be tough to get to by wading.  Wade fishing, however, also brings a distinct set of advantages.  Some of the best Montana fly fishing rivers or streams are too small to float fish.  Even on large rivers like the Madison and Yellowstone have sections of the river that you can’t reach from a boat such as side channels.  While float fishing is great for covering lots of water, wade fishing allows you to spend more time in highly productive locations like trout rich seams and riffle corners.  Many of our guides absolutely love to get out of a boat (or leave it behind) and hike or walk into very productive fisheries that are off of the radar of the numerous guides that prefer fishing from boats.

I have found that most anglers that we guide can greatly improve their wade fishing productivity by simply focusing on where to position their body when fishing.  The vast majority of folks that I fish with will walk into a run and pick out some good holding water in a location such as a seam or riffle drop.  They then proceed to progressively fan out casts to hit each of these good looking spots without actually moving their bodies. 

By far the most important technique that I have learned guiding wade fishing trips is that you have to constantly move your body when wade fishing.  There is usually a specific casting geometry that allows you to get the perfect presentation in a certain situation.  Just because your flies have landed in a sexy patch of water doesn’t mean that they look right to the fish.  There are a myriad of different casting techniques, rod positions and drift angles that can be effective on different types of water.  The key is to target what casting geometry has been productive and then position your body so that you can make the perfect presentation to the section of water that looks the most promising.

A typical example of this principle would be fishing hard seams or rocks.  These types of locations in a stream or river produce drastic differences in currents.  Trying to make long casts in pocket water with numerous lanes of currents is a fruitless endeavor because too much fly line ends up on the water resulting in almost instant drag on your flies.  In this type of water condition “high sticking” is very productive.  It requires making short casts followed by elevating the rod high in the air to keep most of the line off of the water.  Usually the best location of the drift is directly across from the angler.  There is usually a magical distance (not to close and not too far) where you get the best drift.  It is important when fishing pocket water that you constantly move your body to position it at this magic distance from the productive seams that occur just below rocks.

Another prime example of body position is when fishing to rising trout on spring creeks or technical water.  Although one can write a book on casting techniques used on spring creeks (and many have), my favorite position on a spring creek when a trout is rising in a glassy slick is to have the trout directly across form me with just a little bit of a downstream angle.  This position allows the flies to arrive at the trouts location before the tippet (if a reach or curve cast is used), but still affords a lot of control for casting and mending.  Just as in fishing pocket water there is usually a magic distance as well which is a bit longer than in pocket water.  If you are too close to the trout they will spook, but if you are too far the many lanes of current interfere with the drift and produce drag that is often only noticed by the trout and not the angler.  He fishing in these situations I often spend several minutes planning my approach and determining where the best location will be from which to make my cast.  I then spend several more minutes slowly creeping into position to avoid spooking the trout or pod of trout.  Finally I make my first cast which will now hopefully be the perfect presentation.

If you want to increase your hookup rates when you are wading…start paying attention to where your body is positioned in the river and be willing to move your feet!

1)  Fish often    Even a blind horse finds water sometimes.  The more time you spend on the water the better the chances that you will stumble into the trout of a lifetime.

2)  Fish where large trout are common    This is probably the most important tip of all.  Do whatever you can to fish rivers that commonly produce massive trout.  I have only caught two trout in the 10lb range: a 28” rainbow in Kamchatka and a 28” brown in New Zealand.  In places like New Zealand, a few Alaskan rivers, Kamchatka, and Tierra del Fuego trophy trout in this league are regularly caught.  In the lower 48 fish of this size aren’t as common but can be found.  In the West I would rate Montana and Idaho at the top of the list and Pennsylvania in the East.  Some tail waters in Arkansas, Wyoming and Colorado also produce monsters just below large dams.

3)  Fish big nasties!   With the exception of some huge tail water trout that gorge on freshwater shrimp being out of a dam, most big fish eat big meals.  If you spend every day on the water casting tiny dry flies you might have a lot of action but your chances of hooking a trout of a lifetime are slim to none.  Monster trout eat sculpins, crayfish, big stoneflies and other trout.  I fish a lot of really big streamers that I custom tie.  Casting these 10” tandem hooked bunny fur contraptions will scar away most small dogs and make your arm fall off at the end of the day, but throw them often enough good things will happen!  A more reasonable option is to dead drift one meaty fly like a zonker trailed by a smaller bead head nymph under a strike indicator.  This keeps you in the game for big trout but also increases the odds of not going home skunked.

4)  Fish on cloudy days and in the rain.    Large trout frequentlyeat under low light conditions.  Since they are often eating meaty meals they often go long periods of time without feeding while digesting their last victim.  Fishing at  dawn or at dusk is a good bet.  Cloud cover and especially a good rain will often trigger intense feeding in the middle of the day by big trout.  When the skies turn dark I always grab for my streamer rod and try to hit a home run.
5)  Night fish    This isn’t as popular when fishing in Montana as it is in some locations, but it does have its rewards.  In my opinion fishing after dark is most effective on rivers that get too warm during the day.  Sometimes the best water temperature window occurs in the middle of the night and this is when large predatory browns do their feeding.  I don’t do much of this anymore…the thought of waking up to three kids between the ages under the age of five after 2 hours sleep is enough to scare me straight.  When I was in college in Pennsylvania this was a fun option on some of the limestone streams in the center of the state.  The key to night fishing is to pick out 2 or 3 big runs that hold large trout and work them methodically with large bulky streamers that push a lot of water.

Nymph fishing is a bread and better technique when fishing Montana rivers.  The vast majority (over 90%) of a trouts diet comes from subsurface sources such as immature insects, crustaceans and other fish.  Day in and day out nymph fishing is often the most effective technique for racking up numbers.  I would estimate that at least 70% of the time in the summer nymphing puts more fish in the boat than dry fly fishing or streamer fishing.  In the winter it is closer to 100%.

So while hanging some nymphs under a strike indicator with a few split shot may not be the most glamorous of the fly fishing techniques;  most anglers spend a significant amount of time using this method since it is so effective.  Although my favorite fly fishing strategies are dry fly fishing or streamer fishing, I still end up nymph fishing quite a bit.  I don’t mind catching half as many trout as my buddies if I am dry fly fishing and they are nymphing, but when the ratio drops to 1:3 I usually throw in the towel and rig up some nymphs.

Which nymphs to use and when is a complicated topic and probably the subject of some future posts.  What I would like to focus on now is how much weight and how much leader to use when nymphing.

Tight line vs. dead drift

Most insect nymphs and larva are not good swimmers when they are drifting naturally in the current.  You will read a lot about getting “natural dead drifts” when you read fishing rags or books about nymph fishing.  Sometimes it is an absolute must to get a perfect dead drift.  I find that when nymph fishing tail waters like the Bighorn or Missouri; or spring creeks like DePuy’s it is essential to get a dead drift.  When dead drifting it is imperative that the flies have zero drag from the line and leader.  Volumes have been written about casting and mending techniques that produce a dead drift.  Slack line casts, reach casts, curve casts and stack mends all have their place when dead drifting.

Not all aquatic food sources drift naturally when dislodged in the water.  Some insects like caddis flies are good swimmers when they are emerging.  Other food sources like crayfish and sculpins are frequently darting along the river bottom.  To imitate these food sources some motion on the flies is beneficial.  There are a few ways to add motion to your flies including stripping, swinging and tight lining.  Stripping adds a lot of motion and is usually used for streamer fishing and swinging is often used to imitate emerging caddis pupae (I’ll save those topics for another day).  Tight line nymphing is a more subtle way to add motion and it has several advantages.

I prefer to tight line nymph on rivers such as the Gallatin, Madison and Yellowstone that have a large population of sculpins.  The lower reaches of these rivers also have a large crayfish population.  When tight line nymphing simply keep your line “tight” without trying to strip it or drag them through the water.  The result is just the slightest bit of motion on the flies.  This motion often catches the attention of trout and produces a more realistic imitation of sculpins and crayfish.  It also produces a higher hook up rate since there is little chance a trout can spit the flies out since you are already tight.  Tight line nymphing is especially effective when float fishing.

Leader Length

The length of your leader is an important part of successful nymph fishing.  I prefer to use a shorter leader (5-7.5 feet) when float fishing after runoff when the fish are tight against the banks.  Shorter leaders make the casts under the willows more accurate and result in fewer flies lost.

Most of the time I default to a 9 foot leader when nymph fishing.  9 foot leaders give a nice blend of range of motion on the flies, enough depth to get where you are going and are short enough to still control flies when casting.

Long leaders of 12-20′ are generally used for deep nymphing when a dead drift is required on tailwaters while float fishing.  When water is still high on the Bighorn or Missouri we go to very long leaders in order to get down to the fish.

Indicator height and split shot

When tight line nymphing I prefer to either use no indicator, or an indicator at the very top of the leader.  Since you have a tight connection to the flies, an indicator is not important as when dead drifting (but can still be important).

When dead drifting I vary indicator height and split shot to get to the depth zone that I am targeting.  One of the biggest mistakes anglers can make is to always fish directly on the bottom.  While dredging the bottom is sometimes required, like when fishing some tailwater runs or during cold water months it isn’t always the best depth to fish at.  When fish are active and on the feed they will move far for your flies.  By fishing higher in the water column your flies are more visible to more trout and you will get less tangles.  Split shot is more difficult to cast resulting in more birds nests and of course sometimes you snag flies on the bottom.  By fishing farther off the bottom you spend more time fishing and less time untangling and re-tying.

For fast water you need more leader below the indicator and more weight.  If you are fishing a fast run that is 3 feet deep and you want your flies near the bottom you may need to set your indicator 6 feet above the flies with 2 or 3 split shot.

For slower waters you may need to be just 1.5 times longer than the depth of the water and can use a bit less shot if you are trying to fish near the bottom.

Nymphs just below the surface

One of the best places to fish is just a few inches below the surface.  One popular way to achieve this is to drop a nymph below a dry fly using a “dry dropper” rig.  I also like to use double nymph rigs just below the surface, sometimes with very large nymphs.  A large unweighted zonker or sculpin with a weightless small nymph trailed behind is useful for probing shallow riffles that large trout feed in.  On many Montana fly fishing trips anglers skip over water that is 6″-2 feet in depth when nymph fishing which is a big mistake.

Another technique is to fish small nymphs just a few inches below the surface during a hatch with a very small tuft of yarn used as an indicator about 18″ above your top fly.

After enjoying a spectacular fall with very pleasant weather, it looks like winter has finally arrived.  A winter storm hit on Monday bringing snow and seasonable (i.e. cold) temperatures and the forecast looking forwards looks like temps in the 30′s for the foreseeable future.  With normal winter weather settling in, we quickly be moving into our wintertime fishing patterns.

Locating Winter Trout

Trout move out of their summertime haunts when cold weather (and water) settles in.  Fish engage in a maintenance diet during cold months and experience very little growth.  In order to conserve valuable energy, trout move into slower moving water.  They generally prefer deeper water (greater than 3 feet) in larger rivers for added safety.  The migration towards wintertime holding water produces dense concentrations of trout in a handful of slow and deep runs.  The majority of the river becomes nearly devoid of trout.  To be successful while fly fishing in Montana in the winter, anglers must focus on these slower and deeper runs that hold fish.  Once you locate a good run they can be productive for several hours (on larger rivers) due to the high trout concentrations.  Often the bottom of the river in especially good winter holding water will be black with the backs of trout that are packed like cord wood.

Time of day

Trout are cold blooded and feed when water temps reach their peak during the winter months.  Don’t bother fishing before 11am since trout will be in a thermally induced coma.  The best hours to fish in the colder months is from noon until 4pm.

Winter nymph strategies

With some exceptions, winter fly fishing is generally a nymph fishing game.  Different patterns work well on different rivers.  In general, egg patterns, stone fly patterns and midge larva are a good bet.  On tail waters and spring creeks scuds and shrimp patterns trailed by a midge larva is a good bet.  The most important aspect of wintertime nymphing is to get slow drag free drifts right on the bottom of the river.  Trout are not going to move far to take your flies so it is imperative that long leaders with adequate weights are used to ensure the flies get down to the fish.  Takes are very subtle since the trout are not moving far during a take and they are in slow current.  Both factors result in very little motion of the indicator.  I exclusively use yarn indicators in the water since they help detect these delicate takes.  Often a yarn indicator will simply flutter back or twist slowly.  Strike first and ask questions later!

Choose your river wisely

Success on winter fly fishing trips is largely dependent on water temperatures.  Many freestone rivers become unfishable when large ice shelves develop.  Some freestone rivers stay ice free such as stretches of the Gallatin River near Big Sky or the Yellowstone River near Gardiner due to underground springs or hot springs.  Another great bet is to target spring creeks and tail waters.  Water that bubbles from the ground or flows from the bottom of a dam is warmer than other rivers.  The warmer water temperatures results in higher levels of fish activity making locations such as the spring Creeks near Livingston and tail waters like the Missouri or Bighorn a good bet in the winter.

Winter time dry fly fishing

Midge hatches occur in the early winter and again in the early spring.  On rivers like the Ruby, East Gallatin, Spring Creeks and Bighorn these hatches can be very strong.  Great dry fly fishing can be experienced on these fisheries under these conditions.  I prefer sunny days for good midge hatches.  The hatches usually occur in the late morning.

October fly fishing in Montana often produces our biggest trout of the year.  Large browns are prepairing to spawn and are much more aggressive than normal.  The big trout are also moving upriver and we get several spawning runs of huge trout that run out of lakes such as Canyon Ferry, Ennis and Hebgen into fisheries like the Madison River.  October also sees much lighter fishing pressure than any other part of the traditional fishing season: locals are out hunting and tourist season is winding down.  The best way to target the big fish is to use the big uglies under the water.  Fishing large streamers as nymphs trailed by a smaller baetis emerger is very effective.  On cloudy days, stripping large streamers can be very productive.  Cloudy and rainy days also produce great dry fly opportunities over prolific baetis hatches.  These mayflies are often called blue winged olives and hatch in great abundance on stormy days bringing nearly every trout in the river to the surface.

While the faint of heart may cringe at the thought of spending the day on a river on a cold, wet, gloomy day; die hard anglers salivate at the chance.  Seasoned Montana fly fisherman understand that inclement weather offers the best shot at hooking up on a monster brown.  Giant browns like the 25″ monster that first time angler Eric Seigel landed while fly fishing the Madison River spend summer days avoiding bright sunlight.  Most of these monsters are big carnivores that come out after dark to pound a smaller trout, a few crayfish or some sculpins and call it a nights work.  The vast majority of trophy browns that I have had clients catch in 15 years of guiding have been during rainy days.  There is something about the combination of cooler water temps, low light and low air pressure that triggers the big boys to feed during the day.  The best way to hook these brutes is to fish water that holds big fish with really big flies.  Streamer fishing may not be the most productive method of fishing, but it is the best way to land giant trout.  Dead drifting large streamers or crayfish also can pull big fish.  If you want to land the trout of a lifetime when fishing in Montana don’t sit on the couch in the warmth of your home when bad weather strikes, put on the cold weather gear and swing for the fences!

There is something absolutely addictive about hopper fishing in Montana.  Watching big fish large flies is the apex of fly fishing.  Once mid July comes around everyone becomes hopper crazy and begins throwing countless foam hoppers on our local rivers.  By mid august fish have seen a lot of hoppers!  One strategy that consistently brings in fish during the late hopper season is to add some action to our hoppers.  This technique is especially effective on calm glides.  We like to telegraph a small hop in the line while stripping to make our hoppers twitch periodically.  Ideally the hopper should just barely move then dead drift in between twitches.  The twitch we use is very similar to a small mend (and sometimes is).  It is important to strip a bit of line in as you twitch to retrieve the slack that is generated so that you are prepared when a fish strikes.  Twitching hoppers often converts nibbles on the rubber legs into full fledged bull rush takes!

Each year Montana rivers become swollen from the melting snow pack.  Typically run off begins sometime in mid-late may and can extend into June and even July on big snow years.  Despite the fact that some rivers are un-fishable and dangerous during run off, there is still great fishing to be had….sometimes the best of the year.  Fly fishing in Montana is rarely crowded during runoff (except for some tailwaters) and water temperatures are kicking trout into feeding mode.  Since it is still early in the season, trout have not received much pressure and are easy to fool.

1)  Fish tail waters

Large reservoirs filter sediment out of rivers.  Below the dams, water runs clear and fishing remains terrific during the high water run off time period.  Rivers like the Bighorn, Beaverhead, and Missouri are world famous tailwaters.  The Ruby and Madison are also tailwaters that remain fishable during most of runoff.

2)  Fish spring creeks

Spring creeks originate from underground springs and stay cyrstal clear all year.  They also do not fluctuate in flows and produce spectacular fishing in May and June.  The PMD emergers during this time period producing terrific dry fly action.  Montana’s spring creeks are some of the best in the world!!!

3)  Fish stillwaters
Lakes and irrigation reservoirs produce awesome fishing for very large trout.  Often trout cruise the shallows allowing for anglers to site fish.  Watching a 27″ trout swim to your fly and then inhale it is truly a rush!  The first brood of callibaetis mayfly hatches in June producing exceptional fishing.  Weedbeds are still not established making May and early June an exceptional time to fish during run off.

4)  Fish the high water!

When waters are rising fast, they become very muddy and fishing is poor.  When waters begin to drop, they may still appear off color but fishing can be good.  When visibility hits 12″ and the waters are dropping, work the banks with big stonefly nymphs or streamers and hang on.  Boats are a great tool for this type of fishing.  Our Bozeman fly fishing guides often use the boats to work our way downstream, then jump out and fish the slower eddies where fish have concentrated to escape the high flows.