The East Gallatin River offers one of the best fly fishing trips near Bozeman. This is not a river that you will read much about in fly fishing magazines, and most of the locals won't even mention it unless you've proposed to their daughter. The East Gallatin receives very little pressure from Bozeman fishing guides because it is too small for drift boats and is difficult to wade fish without trespassing.
The East is a small meadow river that flows through the pastoral heart of the Gallatin Valley. It has a completely different "personality" than its larger neighbor the Gallatin River. Although it is a small river, the average size trout is similar to that of larger rivers. The river makes one serpentine turn after another producing countless undercut banks full of large browns. The river also has numerous small spring creeks that feed it making for an incredibly fertile fishery with outstanding hatches.
Later in the summer the water levels drop and the trout become very spooky. We often access private ranches for a rod fee to target late season hatches. Late summer fishing is very challenging, much like spring creek fishing. There are great trico hatches on the East allowing for a skilled dry fly fisherman to have terrific match the hatch fishing to rising trout.
