Hey friends, so next week I get to travel to Great Falls, MT for a work trip. I am hoping I will have some extra time in the evenings to do some fly fishing. I think I’ll also have the full day on Thursday available to fish.
Are there any streams/rivers that pretty close to town that you’d recommend? (I don’t care about your secret spot, I just want public access points and parking areas.) Specifically, are there places I could wade or fish from shore?
How’s the water been lately? Is it warm enough that I could wet-wade? My waders are pretty bulky to bring on an airplane for a non-fishing trip.
Got any fly shops in town you’d recommend?
(PS - definitely can’t wait to get a chance to flyfish for a day. Currently live in Chicago, so it has been waaay too long. Thank goodness I’ve bought travel rods before! )
I’m no expert on the area but have fished the Missouri river – only about 60 miles south of Great Falls – down near Craig. Well worth hiring a guide for a day. As for fly shops, not sure about Great Falls but would be surprised if they didn’t have a few. Definitely have many shops in Craig – in fact, that is just about all there is. I fished the Mo. several days last summer and found it to be some of the best fishing and best grade of fish that I caught last summer. However, I fished from a boat. There should be areas to wade in the area also.
Good luck. There is a guide in the area named Dave Carnihan that I fished with – good guy, good experience, good guide.
John,
I live in Missoula and I’m not familiar with the fishing around Great Falls. You might “google” “Great Falls fly shops” or try one of these two here. They might have good suggestions. Best Regards…
John, The Missouri river from Craig to Cascade. There are a good number of fishing access spots on both sides of the river and Great Fishing. Good Luck, Jim
PS. If you are into Western art, visit the C.M. Russell Museum. It is worth a day’s time. :{>
Hey FarmerJohn,
There are at least two shops in Craig and one in Wolf Creek (6 more miles from Craig).
Wolf Creek has a smaller stream, Little Prickly Pear Creek as well as being close to the Missouri.
Try this link: www.montanariveroutfitters.com/
The blue ribbon trout fishing is from the dam upriver from Craig to several miles downstream. Call the Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig (http://headhuntersflyshop.com/) and they will tell you all there is to know. There is some good wade fishing available, but if you have the time and money, I would highly suggest doing a float down the river with a guide. Headhunters has some top notch guides available.
Good luck, nd let me know if there is anything else I can help you with,
Thanks for the suggestions folks. The town of Crag rings a bell. I think I drove up there from Helena a few years ago and fished for a day. I don’t think I have the money to hire a guide, and I generally enjoy doing my own thing anyway. I’ll see what I can do on my own. Luckily, the point is not necessarily the catching, though that would make it a lot better.
How’s the water been lately for wet-wading? Would you guys recommend wearing any more than baselayer pants and shorts?
Levels look good, water temps 18 degrees Celsius (64 F), probably a bit warmer further downstream; that would turn grapes into raisins for me, don’t think I’d go much above my knees.
About 6-8 miles south of Cascade on the I-15 there is a fishing access/boat put in take out area. It’s called Pelican Point I think. You get off the 15, go over the bridge and hang a right . Go down the road about a mile to a little farm with a quonset barn on the right. Turn left across the RR tracks and follow the dirt road to the river. Park by the walk gate on the fence on the right side of the parking lot and walk south to the river. You can wet wade there. I fished there two summers ago and caught several 20"+/-. Good luck. Jim
:oops:Boy is my face red. I live 2 miles from the I-15 and have driven it from one end to the other. I went on vacation about a month ago and picked up the I-25 at Albuquerque and stayed on it to Wyoming. Guess I still have it on my mind. My mistake.:oops:
I just returned the day before yesterday from fishing on the Missouri (Holter Dam to Craig) for several days, and was also there fishing for a couple days last week. You’ve already gotten lots of info from others regarding this section of river and fly shops, etc. so about all that I can add to what has already been said is that the Missouri was fishing very good while we were there.
There is beginning to be some problems with the weeds, and the evening caddis hatch is waning, but there were still lots of fish rising to tricos in the morning and PMD’s later on in the day. However, the fish were in great shape and one of my friends had a 24" rainbow this week, plus plenty of others from 17"-20".