Planning a road trip to Montana...

[Troutastic]

Hey guys-

I'm in the preliminary stages of planning a 5 day road trip with a few friends around Montana next summer, probably in mid-June or July. The plan is to camp out of my truck and go whereever I need to go to maximize fishing enjoyment around the state. Pretty basic, but fishing is the only agenda. This will be my first time up in Big Sky country, and I'm really looking forward to it! I know about the Madison, Gallatin, and Yellowstone Rivers and will probably do a float or hire a guide for one of them. But other than that, I don't really know of other places that I NEED to fish when I'm up there. I'm beginning to start my river research now, but I figured this would be a great place to start... I was hoping I could get some insight/recommendations for other rivers to hit, and maybe some of the bugs I might expect, although I'm sure they're relatively similar to what we find in Colorado.

I know a few of you go out to those parts every year (I'm lookin at you Wwelz), and any information is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Esopus Guy]

I'm all ears on the bugs as I'm planning a trip to the Yelllowstone next summer for a research study around the same time. It'll be my first trip out west.

[AaronJasper]

Go to all of the "Tourist Trap" spots.

Montana is much different than Colorado. You can fish anywhere you want as long as you gain lawful access.

The rivers to go would be the Madison, Gallatin, Ruby, and the Missouri. If you're up to it, spend a few day rates and go to some of the spring creeks like Armstong and Depuys. They are beautiful.

Oh and there's the Beaverhead and Big Hole too.

It's Montana... It's good if you know what I mean

[spruceman]

A friend of mine, Chuck Robbins"wrote the book "A Flyfishers Guide To Montana". He is an avid outdoorsman and his books are an excellent read. Check out his website and blog at www. ChuckandGaleRobbins.com

He gives some great suggestions for places to fish based on your preference (i.e. tourist traps, backcountry adventures)

Hope this helps!

Spruceman

[wwelz]

The challenge for me would be thinking about the time you have to spend . Five days is not much time when you consider how big Montana is and the time you would loose to travel. My advice would be to narrow your agenda to a couple of places. I personally would choose the Missouri and the Big Horn but the suggestions that Arron gave you are all good. Comparing rivers in Montana is like being at a beauty contest and arguing about who is the prettiest girl in the room . As for where to camp I would stay at the Cottonwood camp in Fort Smith on the Big Horn and the Holter Dam campground in Wolf Creek for the Missouri river. I would carefully watch the water flow data on all the rivers you are interested in fishing daily before you leave.I would pick the two with the most favorable water flow. Rivers in Montana can run really high in June. I think most people would say that July is a safer month. If you are locked into a particular date choose the rivers based on the water flow. I can only give advice in fly selection on the tail waters. Do not abandon the flies that work for you everywhere else. Use them in combination with the local favorites. The soft hackle ray Charles , San Juan Worm, various scud patterns in pink and orange, white tailed midge, Prince Nymph to name a few nymph patterns. I do not fish many dries but black caddis seem to always be present. I can recommend a fly shop on the Big Horn and one on the Missouri to call for fishing conditions and fly selection. I would call the Big Horn Trout Shop in Fort Smith Montana (http://www.bighorntroutshop.com ) and the Cross Current fly shop in Craig Montana (http://www.crosscurrents.com ) These guys give accurate reports and can give you the straight scoop on the flies to bring and hook you up with a guide. You can rent drift boats and sometimes one man pontoon boats . Don,t wait until the last minute to hire a guide you may not find one available. I can recommend a couple of guides on the big horn.

[Magnet]

The Missouri is huge and not typical of the other rivers mentioned as far as the way we like to wade and fish. Near Houlter Dam you fish from the banks. Its way too deep.

[SherpaB]

..I would go in July...June you may still have runoff issues...I have always gone around the 4th of July and its good...real good.
I would head right to West Yellowstone...check out whats doing in the Park but the Madison should be primo and the Gallatin is kinda skipped over by a lot of guys but theres a boatload of fish to be had..the Yellowstone is a great river but probably unwadable at that time of year..I have caught some slobs right along the banks though...then head to the ennis area..you got great water around there (the braided water is under fished and over populated) all the bridge accesses fish pretty good and you are pretty close to the Ruby, Jefferson, Beaverhead. I think you can camp at any fishing access for $5 a night.
The end of the Salmonfly hatch should still be happening plus the caddis are in full swing..you will clean up big time there...forget the 6x and 7x...3x or 4x and you are good most of the time..bring some 5x if they get fussy.

[Troutastic]

You guys are right. 5 days is not nearly enough time to cover the ground I'm talking about as far as different rivers to fish. This will be the first of MANY trips (I hope), so I think its best to focus on two or three rivers, depending on proximity, and then hit some new ones on the next trip. Fish each one for a day or two, and if the fishing sucks (HAHA ) I'll jump over to another one. I probably will wait until mid July to go, I'd like to avoid the runoff, I just figured it wasn't as bad as it might be around here in Colorado. Thanks for the info guys!

[fisherjon15]

some rivers in western montana the clark fork i heard is good i fished the flathead and caught a few go to glacier i know there are some good creeks there and even lake mcdonald in west glacier on the shore it goes out like 20 feet and just drops off i waded up to my knees upper thigh and casted out some dry flies and was just getting cutt after cutt or try the little piece of the kootenai river that flows through montana or even the st regis river the town of st regis is suppose to be the fly fishing capital of the northwest at least thats what a sign said when i traveled through there haha and there are plenty of fish access sights there is even a free booklet of fish access sights

[WILDFLY]

I'm a guide here on the Bighorn, so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

As others have already said, the timing of your trip might not be optimal. Mid June is right in the middle of runoff and even on tailwaters like the Bighorn the water can be HUGE!!! I'm not saying the fishing is bad, but if you don't have a boat the wading access can be really tough because the river is bank full.

July is better, but like this year runoff didn't end until almost the third week of July.

If you wanted to play it safe and maximize your time on the water, I'd recommend fishing in the West Yellowstone area. You can fish all the rivers in the park, as well as the Madison, Gallatin, Henry's fork and many others only a very short drive away. Good camping, great wade fishing access and an amazing number of hatches are all in a fairly small area.

Hope this helps.