Category Archives: Fishing by Time of Year

Fall fishing has a cult following in Montana. Die hard anglers visit the Big Sky state in October every year hoping to hook up with the fish of a lifetime. For a variety of reasons, most angler put their fall fishing eggs in the October basket and ignore the late fall. Rivers in November are...

Some of Montana's best hatches occur early in the season before the rivers become swollen with snowmelt. Savvy anglers have realized that targeting these hatches can provide some fantastic early season dry fly fishing. Many Montana fly fishing guides rate the spring as their favorite time to hit...

Rock Creek is a 52-mile long anglers haven located west of I-90 and just 30 minutes south of Missoula. On any given day you can hit a “grand slam” by catching beautiful browns, rainbows and west slope cutthroat and even the occasional brookie. The river corridor is surrounded by pristine land of the...

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...

Many avid anglers target September as their preferred month for fly fishing in Montana. Once kids go back to school the amount of tourist traffic visiting the Big Sky state drops off dramatically so the casual anglers sneaking in a guided day of fishing on their Yellowstone Park vacation almost...

Matt Morris, his girl Laura, and I took a drive over to the Missouri below Halter today. We were let down by the weatherman, who called for 68 degrees and sunshine. Instead we encountered fog and low clouds with temperatures barely breaking the high 40's. Our attitudes weren't glum for long though...

I took my wife to the Lower Madison to fish on a partly sunny 50 degree afternoon. It was certainly nice to be on the water again this spring, which has produced high quality spring fishing. We parked the truck and took a short walk before fishing a deep bucket (depression). I immediately hooked and...

July fly fishing in Montana produces some of the most diverse angling conditions of the year. July is hand’s down the busiest time of the year for fishing the blue ribbon rivers of the Big Sky state. The popularity is due in part to the fact that July is often when a lot of people like to plan their...

Winter fly fishing in Montana isn’t rocket science. The fish have left the shallow riffles and heavy pocket water in favor of the slower and deeper pools. Once you find a good wintertime run there will probably be dozens if not hundreds of trout in it. The trout are going to do 95% of their feeding...

One of our most frequently asked questions by seasoned anglers planning Montana fishing trips is “when and where is the best dry fly fishing?”. As with most fishing related questions the first answer is “it depends”! The biggest attribute of fishing in the Big Sky state is the vast diversity of high...