The end of this week I’m making a quick trip from the Spokane area to the very southeast corner of Montana, most of it on I90 but ending on east 212. The wife, bless her heart, suggested (read - the boss will let me) taking a couple extra days on the way over to fish (solo - she and the kids are not going). I’ve made this trip a lot so I know there are a lot of prime rivers along the way but I’ve never fished any and the number of choices is paralyzing. Wade? Float? Where? Dry? Wet? Were you in my shoes (waders), you would:
Dabble in as many rivers along the way as possible just to say you’ve been there?
Make a bee-line for (fill in the spot) and spend quality time (after buying the recommended flies from (shop))?
Head to (city) and stop in at (shop) to hire a guide and go where they take you?
Bag the whole idea and plan ahead next year?
Bighorn - 1.5 hours from Billings. Since you are hooking up with 212, it is basically a no brainer for you. Tailwater fishery that is fishing quite well as of late.
Stillwater/Boulder Rivers. Both are starting to clear and the fishing is pretty good. Fished the Boulder yesterday. Quite a few locations near I-90.
Yellowstone River - Think Salmon flies!
Gallatin River
Madison River
Jefferson River
Missouri River
Big Hole River
Clarks Fork
Bitteroot River
Rock Creek
Nice shops in Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, and Livingston. You can wade and wet wade most of those rivers. Wet waded yesterday at 49 degrees(air temp). Pletny of float options. I’d bring breathable waders and felt soles.
Once you hit Montana, you will have plenty of chances to fish. Basically all the way until you hit 212. Tough choice…
I always thought the St Regis ought to have some good fishing. Not a big river, but in MT that makes little difference. I drove past it a bunch of times, but never stopped to fish. Give it a try and let me know how it was.
DG, the St. Reg. fishes well early in the year and late. It gets a salmonfly hatch. It’s not that cool really. I don’t know what to recommend, there is a lot of water. The lower Clark fork west of missoula is a good place. If you drive past the pig pen at warm springs you should stop and fish it for an hour or two.
Thanks for the replies - I made a beeline for the Bighorn. The board in the permit station indicated the flow was a little over 7,000 cfs, up from the low 60’s the day before. Lots of moss floating by - rapidly. Fishing was tough - saw only 2 fish caught over five hours of fishing by a bunch of floaters and some waders. No waders very far from the bank. One spot with clear gravel at the end of a riffle had a dozen+ big fish on the very bottom that didn’t appear to be feeding at all. An old timer who spends a couple months a year on the river and caught one of the fish, a nice one, was using a pike-sized swivel on the end of a 7’ or so leader with a chironomid on a really large scud-like hook on about a 2’ dropper and a tiny (#20?) orange scud on about a 4’ dropper off the swivel, no indicator. It all made a big kersploosh when it hit the water.
