Category Archives: Montana dry fly fishing

What does it take to be a great angler? Is it a 10-pound trout on 6X? Catching two permit in one day? Or, matching the hatch when a trout is sipping size 24 dry flies on a spring creek? Accomplishing all three of these--however rare or amazingly difficult they may be--doesn't necessarily make...

Seeing is believing, right? If you can see a fish, you should believe you can catch it. However, oftentimes, if you can see a fish, it is also likely that the fish can see you. Whether you are fishing a crystal clear spring creek in Montana’s Paradise Valley or casting to pods of rising trout on the...

The Smith River flows through a remote 60-mile canyon and is home to several thousand trout per mile. Unlike the tailwaters of the Missouri or Madison Rivers or the crystal clear Paradise Valley Spring Creeks, Montana's Smith River is a free flowing freestone river with streamflows and water...

The world famous Madison River flows for 183 miles north from its headwaters in Yellowstone National Park to its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers near Bozeman, Montana. These rivers merge to form the Missouri River. The Madison River and its nearby waters offer some of the best and...

Standing in a river and waving a stick is just one of the ways renowned angling author John Gierach described walk-and-wade fishing. We could also add to his sentiments the following statement: “And, you’re trying to fool something that eats bugs and has a brain smaller than a pea.” Fly fishing...

Visions of fly fishing in Montana in the fall conjure up leaves changing colors, mountain peaks dusted with fresh snow, and happy anglers holding large brown trout. The fall season in Montana is eagerly awaited each year by local and long-time visiting anglers. There are plenty of great months to go...

One of the lesser known insect hatches in southwest Montana is the nocturnal stonefly. As the name infers, these insects are creatures of the night. Many anglers will never see this species of stonefly, that is unless they are on the water at daybreak or fish past the hours of sunset. You may have...

Late summer in Montana—those weeks after the hatches of salmonflies and PMDs but before the frosty mornings of fall—have a unique set of circumstances for fly fishing in Montana. In most years, by late July and early August our local trout waters have experienced prolonged periods of bright sunshine...

In Montana we’ve got big rivers, small rivers, spring creeks, lakes, and a lot of other nooks and crannies where fish can swim. Montana is nearly 600 miles wide and over 300 miles tall. Is it possible that one fly fishing rod exists to fish all the great fly-fishing waters in Montana? Absolutely...

During late summer in Montana or anywhere that trout swim— Chile, Argentina, Mongolia, or New Zealand to name a few—anglers and fly fishing guides are always on the look out for dry fly fishing with terrestrials. There’s a lot of hype associated with trout eating hoppers, ants, and beetles. And...