If I don’t memorize all the rivers, streams and lakes in Montana, along with all the roads, my buddy is going to freak out and crap his pants.
Would you recommend a good book with maps, rivers, etc. please? We will be fishing the Gallatin, Madison, Lamar, Slough Creek, Soda Butte, Gardner, etc. Your help is greatly appreciated because he’s a mean looking man, even when he’s being nice.
This one has iterested me: “Fly Fishing Montana: A No Nonsense Guide.”
Thanks
So how many years are you going to be in Montana, that sure is one whole bunch of water to cover. 
The book you mentioned is as good as any for your trip,
If you pass through west yellowstone, the book peddler in town has some wonderful books on the subject as well.
Have a great trip!
Steve
Not to pick nits but most of the streams you mentioned are in YNP which is almost entirely in Wyoming. For that I’d get
Fishing Yellowstone National Park Guide Book - Richard Parks
Some good ones on Montana:
Montana Flyfishing Guide East - John Holt
Montana Flyfishing Guide West - “” “”
Flyfishers Guide to Montana - Chuck Robbins (I like his better than the Greg Thomas version)
Delorme’s Montana Atlas & Gazetteer
Regards,
Scott
get some books and dvds from craig mathews at blue ribbon flies
Well, I’ll only be there for 10 days and I wish it was for years. I just thought it would be cool to read about some of the places I’ll be and the direction I’ll be traveling from stream to stream. Plus, as I said before, my buddy is tough. He expects me to be well versed. LOL
We’ll be staying in Cooke City, Gardiner and Livingston. So you’re sayng we’ll be sleeping in Montana and fishing in Wyoming?
Thanks,
Bruce
Bruce,
When are you going to be out there? Word of warning - they’re doing construction on the Norris-Madison road (expect delays) until August 17, when they’ll close it for the year. That’ll add a considerable amount of travel time to get between Gardner/Cooke City and West Yellowstone:
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/roadclosures.htm
Also, if you’re looking to “get away from it all” you probably won’t find that on Lamar/Soda Butte, especially in late summer, unless there’s a thunderstorm in which case they’ll quickly turn into YooHoo. Don’t want to discourage you, but it gets very, very crowded up there and the sections close to the road are hammered. If you’re willing to hike you can get away from the mob scene and find some fish that haven’t been flogged too badly.
Regards,
Scott
I know nothing of fishing out West. My buddy has been there 3 times so he’s been planning the itinerary. If there’s better stretches to fish, I’m sure he’ll be open to suggestions. I’m willing to experience as much as I can. I’ll suggest we get in touch with Walter, too.
Thanks,
Bruce
Bruce,
Sorry if I painted such a gloomy picture of the NE end of the park - the scenery is spectacular, it’s a great place to view wildlife (2 and 4 footed variety), and there are fish in the rivers. It’s just a lot more crowded than it was even a few years ago and there are times where you don’t dare turn away from the river to pee in the bush for fear of having someone jump your pool (no kidding). Have fun, hope you catch a bunch.
Regards,
Scott
I know exactly what you mean. The steelhead runs on Lake Erie are big money makers for the PA Game Commission and they advertise it big time. It’s become a multi-million dollar industry. At one time you could find a piece of water to fish during the weekdays. Now, that’s even very difficult. I realize everyone has the right to be there but I don’t like fishing shoulder to shoulder. I quit going up from my PA home, which is about a 3 1/2-hour drive. I miss it some, but I hate battling for position. We have a few trout streams in PA that have been written about in national magazines and there are more people on them from surrounding states than there has ever been. They have as much right to be there as I do, but it gets a bit maddening during the more prominent hatches.
Cooke City is in Montana (yes, I know - Duh!) but lots of places southwards in the Beartooths. Pat Marcuson’s (sp.) “Fishing the Beartooths” is very good. Has some info on streams, but tons of info on practically every high country lake in the area.
Lastchance will be my sidekick on this trip. He’s rather geographically challenged but other than that he is almost tolerable to fish with. Don’t fluster him, there’s plenty of water to share in northeast YNP. Spent many a day on the Soda, Slough, Pebble and Lamar without seeing another soul. In the event you do bump into another soul, like I did on Trout Lake once, you may end up in a delightful three hour conversation with some interesting character. Sometimes people make the day. No, we won’t be getting in touch with anyone from Park’s Fly Shop. A couple years ago, a young cowboy guide from that shop attempted to run me out of a delightful spot on the Gardner. Let’s just say he was a real jackass. It’s probably best Lastchance doesn’t have a map, it would only confuse him all the more and he will ask even more questions. At this point, I can’t take anymore questions. The way I look at it…I’ll just tap on the truck lid, let him out and we’ll go fishin. Then do it all over again. It will be best for both of us.
I went to Noble’s Bookstore and never found a thing about Montana, not even a map. Besides his tendency to end sentences with prepositions and hum Old Man River when he pees, RatherBfishin’ is a tolerable fishing buddy. He’s kind of like what you would get if the Rain Man fathered a child with Forest Gump’s older sister. He’s been there before and he knows the area. I guess I’ll buy a book when I land in Bozeman. And, when he taps on the car roof and says, “let’s fish,” I’ll just ask him to lead me to the shrimp boat.
If you can get your hands on this video…it will be a very good start…at least on the Madison.
http://www.slideinn.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=44
Thanks, Mato. We’re leaving in 20 days.