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Montana Fly Fishing
Posted on 5/29/24 at 1:30 pm
Posted on 5/29/24 at 1:30 pm
Looking for some fly fishing advice for Montana in the summer months. I would be visiting family in the Bitterroot River area south of Missoula. Any tips on when to go, what to bring, etc
5
Posted on 5/29/24 at 1:55 pm to CypressTrout10
The snow melt will be running off now, so give it a couple of more weeks for the water to clear up. Bring waders and a 5 wt rod. Drop by the local fly shops and ask what they’ve been eating.
Posted on 5/29/24 at 3:08 pm to CypressTrout10
Honestly, I'd ring the fly shops in the area and ask them. If it's summer time, you can't go wrong fishing a dry dropper rig. In the day time/afternoon some flavor of hopper or stimulator with a pheasant tail, copper john or hare's ear on a 12"-18" dropper. In the late evening right up until dark, the same dry dropper rig, but with a caddis dry and caddis pupa/emerger underneath. Many caddis emerge nocturnally and if you're game it keep fishing, it will continue to catch fish after dark. Those two setup's will catch summer time fish in most any major river in the Rockies.
Posted on 5/29/24 at 7:45 pm to CypressTrout10
Just remember that water is snow melt and it’s COLD!
Posted on 5/30/24 at 7:33 am to CypressTrout10
July, August and September BIG gaudy hoppers with a dropper. Terrestrials will be thick and the fish will be looking for big grass hoppers. The bite is incredible and about as much fun as one can have with their britches on.
Drift boat is the way to go....split between 2 people still pretty affordable...you will cover infinitely more water and areas that are nearly impossible to reach to wade. Its also about as non-technical as fly fishing gets....basically cane pole fishing will work if you can learn to mend your line which is not hard to do.
I have fished in the area some but not a lot but its the same story in all western rivers that time of year....a lot like crappie fishing in the SE in March, it is what works and everyone is doing it. You can catch them swinging streamers and anyway you want but a big, gaudy hopper on top with a weighted nymph or even a dry about a foot behind it is what almost everyone will be doing because it is what catches the most fish. June is a little early for the terrestrials to be out but it will work if it has been warm and the grasshoppers are thick...and by thick I mean EVERYWHERE....
Drift boat is the way to go....split between 2 people still pretty affordable...you will cover infinitely more water and areas that are nearly impossible to reach to wade. Its also about as non-technical as fly fishing gets....basically cane pole fishing will work if you can learn to mend your line which is not hard to do.
I have fished in the area some but not a lot but its the same story in all western rivers that time of year....a lot like crappie fishing in the SE in March, it is what works and everyone is doing it. You can catch them swinging streamers and anyway you want but a big, gaudy hopper on top with a weighted nymph or even a dry about a foot behind it is what almost everyone will be doing because it is what catches the most fish. June is a little early for the terrestrials to be out but it will work if it has been warm and the grasshoppers are thick...and by thick I mean EVERYWHERE....
Posted on 5/30/24 at 7:35 am to chrome1007
quote:
Just remember that water is snow melt and it’s COLD!
Truth. Lot of shrinkage will occur just sticking your wading shoe clad toe in the water....float your hat and you could be in some serious trouble. Avoid ALL of that and hire a drift boat. Split 2 ways pretty affordable and cover infinitely more water than wading and cover water that is not accessible nor wadable.
Posted on 5/30/24 at 7:49 am to CypressTrout10
Not a popular sentiment and will cause folks to question your ancestry but do not overlook the possibility of catching a BUNCH of trout, on your own, in the area, fishing inline spinners and small stick baits. Generally the further south you are and the closer to town the less restrictive the water is....not always so, you have to know by reading the regs, but there is some INCREDIBLE fishing to be had around Missoula that does not require a long rod. I was in Missoula about 10 years ago for 4 days and fished the Blackfoot just east of town with a walmart spinning rod and a 1 1/2 inch original rapala and caught an embarassing number of trout, nice 20+ inch bows and cutthroat and hybrids, at any one of several pull outs along the river. Never got my feet wet. Folks looked at me like I was a homeless vagrant and an affront to humanity but it was legal....signs clearly stating so....and I was not the only one....locals would come and catch 4-5 in 10 minutes for supper or breakfast like they were going to walmart to get eggs. The Clark Fork is also open for this but I didn't do as well in it as I did the Blackfoot.
Posted on 5/30/24 at 7:52 am to AwgustaDawg
quote:
July, August and September BIG gaudy hoppers with a dropper. Terrestrials will be thick and the fish will be looking for big grass hoppers. The bite is incredible and about as much fun as one can have with their britches on.
Had to quote this for extreme accuracy. Hopper season is second only to green drake hatches, but green drake hatches only last for a few days in late June.
Missoula is a great town for fly fishing. It is hard to go wrong. Just follow Awgustadawg's advice and you will be hauling in big ones on pretty much any section of water you find yourself on.
Posted on 5/30/24 at 8:00 am to UtahCajun
quote:
Hopper season is second only to green drake hatches, but green drake hatches only last for a few days in late June.
I dunno. Fall streamer season can get pretty rowdy.
And if you're lucky enough to know of a place where the salmon flies come off, big fish can get really stupid when they're hatching.
But I'll agree about the drakes. I had some great days fishing drakes up at Current Creek before the Dollar Ridge Fire washed a bunch of sediment into the creek. .
And didn't I say pretty much the same thing as AwgustaDawg in a less descriptive way?
quote:
If it's summer time, you can't go wrong fishing a dry dropper rig. In the day time/afternoon some flavor of hopper or stimulator with a pheasant tail, copper john or hare's ear on a 12"-18" dropper.
quote:
July, August and September BIG gaudy hoppers with a dropper. Terrestrials will be thick and the fish will be looking for big grass hoppers.....
a big, gaudy hopper on top with a weighted nymph or even a dry about a foot behind it is what almost everyone will be doing because it is what catches the most fish
Not upset or anything, just agreeing with the technique...
This post was edited on 5/30/24 at 8:07 am
Posted on 5/30/24 at 9:15 am to Lonnie Utah
quote:
And if you're lucky enough to know of a place where the salmon flies come off, big fish can get really stupid when they're hatching.
You ain't just whistling dixie....I have only experienced it when it was right a handful of times but if it were one's first exposure to trout it'd lead you to wonder how any critter that stupid could possible survive enough to make more of themselves. They are INSANE when its right....I would imagine now through the end of June in the Missoula area????
quote:
I dunno. Fall streamer season can get pretty rowdy.
One of my favorite ways to catch fish but in my opinion its pretty technical for even moderately experienced fly fisherman. Its right up the alley for saltwater fly fisherman though after some experience reading flows....
Fishing a hopper dropper is a almost cane pole fishing simple from a drift boat.....at times mending isn't even necessary, the dam fly, the line and the boat are all moving nearly the same speed....
Posted on 5/30/24 at 9:50 am to Lonnie Utah
quote:
But I'll agree about the drakes. I had some great days fishing drakes up at Current Creek before the Dollar Ridge Fire washed a bunch of sediment into the creek
Not a Current Creek fan believe it or not.
I was lucky enough, June of 2022, to be on the Duchesne during a PMD hatch that was directly followed by a GD hatch.
From 0930 to 1130 I was able to land and release 28 fish with the average length of just under 15". Of course anyone who knows, knows that the Duchesne holds more large browns than most rivers its size. Love that river.
Posted on 5/30/24 at 10:42 am to UtahCajun
quote:
Not a Current Creek fan believe it or not.
15+ years ago, it was a really good fishery. But I grew up on small eastern streams so it wasn't much of a stretch for me.
This one was close to 20 years ago...
This post was edited on 5/30/24 at 10:50 am
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