Mike,
Unfortunately I didn't venture into NW Montana. We flew into Bozeman and drove south to Big Sky and fished the Gallatin and rivers within Yellowstone.
The Gallatin is an awesome river if you get a chance to fish it. While big fish are certainly there, most of the trout I caught were in the 12-16inch range except for a few big mountain whitefish mixed in. The two best things about the Gallatin is access as it hugs Rt 191 from Bozeman to Yellowstone and for the shear number of fish in the water. I caught about twenty fish each day.
The other two days my mom (who has never fished) and I spent with Wild Trout Outfitters based in Big Sky who took us into Yellowstone to fish the Madison, Firehole, and Gibbon rivers. While driving to the park, he blew my mind by saying mid-to-late October is hands down the best time to fish the park for big ass fish. One, because the crowds of tourists and fisherman are significantly smaller with snow and wintery conditions. And two, because huge lake Hebgen trout were migrating into the park via the Madison to spawn and hangout in the nutrient rich, hot spring warmed waters throughout the winter. Without a doubt one of the most important things he taught us about fishing in Montana was to rely heavily on casting downstream to water load your long upstream cast and then as your indicator floats past use one big mend to keep the flies deep. Fishing in this way helps to minimize any false casts over the fish and negated the wind from fowling up casts. Throughout the day we focused on deep bend holes and deep riffles tossing eggs and legs (stones and Beatis patterns) with an hour two of me chucking big streamers. Throughout the day the two of us landed around 25 fish.
With fishing so good on Tuesday, we decided to add another guide for Thursday so that my brother and dad, who have also never fly fished before, could join in the experience. To be honest, at the beginning of the day I was nervous that my brother, who is legally blind, wasn't going to enjoy it because everything about fly fishing is small. But again, the guys from Wild Trout Outfitters did an amazing job focusing on my family and showing them the ropes. Throughout the day, with Ray focusing solely on my brother, my brother landed around 10 big healthy browns and rainbows and my parents with their guide did just the same.
On a second side note - never let your guide fish (half jokingly). Early in the morning, while my brother was warming up his hands after landing a big rainbow and I was hydrating and eating a snack, the guide picked up a rod, made one cast, and after a five minute battle I netted his 24" beautiful brown. My brother snapped a few photos with the guides camera, he asked if I wanted a picture holding his fish - which I promptly declined - and my brother released it.
But back to Montana - I picked up a few good books on Montana Waters. While none of them are super in-depth or cover every mile of the river, they do a good job breaking down hatch calendars, providing a few of the better access points, and overall point you in the right direction so that when you do show up on the body of water you read about, you have a good understanding of what to expect and where to start. One of them is a book by Ben Romans and the other is by John Holt. Both a easy reads and I recommend both. Also, of the three fly shops I visited, they all sold river maps that provided access points, landmarks throughout the river, famous holes, and even dangerous stretches to avoid. Most of these were $10 and I actually picked up a few from rivers I knew I wasn't going to fish on this trip.
Overall, my Montana experience was incredible. Although I didn't make it to NW, Montana, from what I've read about Glacier NP, Bitterroot (even on this forum), and Montana waters overall - you are in for a treat no matter what time of year or what body of water you are fishing. With that said, I strongly encourage you to book a guide for at least one day to learn some spots and local fly selections and to go (back) in the fall and fish Yellowstone. I sure as hell am. The attached photos are only the tip of the iceberg too.
Connor
On Friday, November 22, 2013 9:08:52 AM UTC-5, MikeV wrote:
Conner,
Did you by chance do any fishing in NW Montana? Would like to hear about it and see pics if you have any. I am planning a trip to the Spokane, WA area this Spring and I intend to have a look at the Idaho panhandle and NW Montana while I am there to check out the trout and salmon streams/lakes.
Would appreciate any info you care to offer.
Happy Turkey day!
Mike Vance
http://www.tpfr.org
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