Anyone care to hazard a guess about when the best time to travel/fish the west outside CA ( I live in CA) will be this next summer? We will be taking at least 2 and maybe 3 weeksWe will be going to ID, MT, WY, CO, UT, and maybe SD (even though I know there’s no fishies there, especially no trouts) We will also hit at least NE, NV, and AZ, but prolly won’t fish them.What’s your trick knee, crystal ball, tea leaves, goat intestines, direct line to God, or whatever say about the weather next year ( he says while it is pouring here in Woodland, CA)?I just gotta live in my future for a while.MAO
This year in Colorado, the flows in most places didn’t really settle down until around the first of August. Most years, rivers are in pretty good shape after July 4. It looks like it is shaping up to be another good year for mountain snow, so I would not plan a trip until after mid-July. You might think about coming earlier, before runoff. Fishing is generally pretty good in mid-May, but you won’t get the same dry fly action that you get later in the year.
Ted
I thought you were asking for Procrastinators!
You named 3 states I have not yet had an opportunity to visit (MT, WY, SD) but the others I like to visit anytime after the snow melts. AZ I loved in the summer because when its 110 in Phoenix its around 70 in the eastern mountains where large trout live in reservation and US Forestry lakes, I understand there are fish in the Colorado River at a place called Greer’s Ferry, but have never got to try that either.
After the 4th of July holiday. In Utah, you want to also avoid the pioneer Day holiday on July 24th. So I would say between the 4th and the 24th of July.
I would always recommend hitting the Idaho fish-in in late September.
All of the West is prettier in the fall than any other time, and you don’t need to worry about when the runoff is over. You could catch an early snow, but it will melt and not bother you much. Hoppers will be out and about if you want to fish dries, and a little cold and wet will bring out the BWO’s. Late September is your best bet, in my humble opinion.
I second DG’s prognostication. Man, if you miss spell that word it could be nasty.
… and run off wasn’t really over in Northern Idaho and Western Montana until almost August. I think it might have run even later in SW Montana, and South Eastern and Central Idaho had even more snow and longer run off than we did up here.
2012 will see a milder La Nina, but still a La Nina. Right now, I’m thinking run off will end a bit earlier next summer than it did this past summer. If you want to avoid run off, plan for after the first of August for the Intermountain West to include Idaho and Western / SW Montana.
On the other hand, if you are willing to work at it, you can fish during the run off, and in some places even dry fly fishing will be great then. DUB reported some great fishing during run off in Western Colorado. I put up a thread on the great fishing I had in Northern Idaho last year during run off, starting in late May just before it peaked through late July when things finally began to settle down.
John
P.S. It seems like just about everything was at least two to three weeks late this year and may well be that late again next summer - so if you are thinking about matching the hatches, take that into account.
Oh Montana, what a great state. Pre-Runoff, like in late April or very early May is spectacular.
During runoff, the Missouri would be your best bet, below Holter Dam (Craig, MT) down to Cascade. There are a few areas where wading is ok but that is pre or post run off. Even with the dam controlling this river it does get a lot of water during run off but from a drift boat you can fish downstream of the various islands and such and pick up some very good fish.
Post Runoff-- Normally in early July but as indicated in 2011 it was into August when the rivers finally dropped enough. Keep an eye on the snowfall levels to see what next year is going to do.
Larry —sagefisher—
Washington ski areas are opening up this weekend, a great year starts at thanksgiving and this year is a week before that. going to be a great snow pack. I have to agree with DG september for the Idaho fishin, school is back in session, the campgrounds and hotels are less crowded and the water should be down. oh and its the nicest time on the oregon washington coast.
Eric
maodiver. I live in CA also. Usually plan my midsummer fishing trips for 2nd or 3rd week of July and maybe even August. Last summer(2010) we caught the end of the runnoff in SE Idaho and it was great. Summer of 08 we left a little earlier and the first week of July the runnoff in MT was horrendous. 2nd week on the Missouri at Craig, MT was wonderful. Get yourself a farmers almanac for 2012 and trust in it. Good luck. Jim
Having just completed a 30 day trip that included WI, SD, MT (twice) and ID I’d say you have to cut back on several of your proposed destinations. September is normaly a dry month, we had only 2 days of rain, and the crowds are down. The Idaho Fish-In for sure, come in on Wed. and on Saturday head over to Hamilton, MT and fish the West Branch of the Bitteroot. September is a great month for hoppers too.
Will you be staying in motels or camping?
2010 I fished SW MT and YNP in mid July; the rivers were in great shape, even the Lamar, and fished nothing but dries. This year that would probably have got me nothing but a lot of skunk, with fish hanging on to boulders for dear life as runoff roared overhead after a winter of above-average snowpack; luckily we were out in August, but even so, there was more water than I’ve ever seen that time of year. Go back 4 years to 2007 and most of the rivers were on Hoot Owl restrictions by the 3rd week of July, due to low snowpack, a hot early spring and lack of precip. 2008 and 2009 were decent water years, although 2009 started out a bit scary because of poor snow (saved by a cool summer). If I were trying to pick a “safe” time to go, I’d try for last week July-first week August; at the worst it will probably still be pretty darn good, at best it could be epic.
Regards,
Scott
For MT WY …usually…after July 15. But keep an eye on the snow pack reports, spring run off etc. This past year with the huge winter snow pack and late spring…rivers were not in good shape until late August/September. I was out there during the summer of 2010 and hit it just about right. I was fishing YNP for the last two weeks in July. When I arrived the water was still running pretty high but it was fishable. I was in Colorado (on the Roaring Fork / Frying Pan rivers) the fist half of July. The fishing was quite good. This year however would have been a total disaster if I went out for the same time period. It’s tough to predict but snowfall and spring temps are what you need to watch. Listen to the locals. I would seriously look at what you were planning to do. It looks to me like you won’t have any time for fishing with all those planned miles to cover. You can easily burn two weeks in YNP alone. This shouldn’t be like geocaching. 
…and don’t forget the bear spray.
September is out and will be out until I retire in about 20 years. High School Teacher. Will be camping and hotelling. We will be 2 nites at Estes Park…that is the only FOR SURE. We have family in Boise, Colorado Sprngs, Omaha. Will spend a day or two at Yellowstone, as I HATE crowds…and Y-stone is terrible in the summer…I would rather fish the Galletin. Prolly show the kids Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Gunnison River area. It’s still wide open…other than the fact that the vacation can start no earlier than the first weekend of June and end no later than the second weekend of August.
We will have time
Thanks for the ideas…KEEP 'EM COMING!!!
Here is the site that I follow closely to get an idea of what kind of a water year we’ll be having in MT. http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/nrcs/updatesur/update-mt.html
There is a looooong way to go until next summer, but as you can see, many of the watersheds are well over 100% of the norm for this time of year.
Some of the very best fishing, in my experience, occurs in the first several days or week after the rivers first become fishable after runoff. However, that is impossible to predict more than a few days in advance.
As a life long prognosticator, I think I probably should have put off responding to this thread. 
one of the interesting things about fishing in Colorado this year was how jammed up the fishable places were - why don’t we just go fish lakes more, instead of ganging up on these little places that should have one or two fishermen instead of 16? That’s one of my new year’s resolutions - more stillwater!
You might skip the Galletin, the rafting companies have pretty much made it unfishable. It’s just plain crowded.
September is my favorite month for CO. August’s afternoon thunderstorms are gone. Days are mostly warm. Hoppers are plentiful.