The 12 Best Flies For Bozeman

Our 12 Best Flies for Bozeman Fly Fishing

You don’t need ten boxes of flies to consistently catch fish. We’ve curated a simple list of effective fly patterns for fly fishing near Bozeman. These twelve flies won’t catch every single fish, but they’ll give you an excellent chance at catching fish most days across a range of conditions.

Best Bozeman Dry Flies

1. Purple haze

We see exceptional mayfly hatches on many Bozeman rivers, and this colorful variation of the parachute Adams imitates a mayfly on the water. While not a perfect stand-in for any specific mayfly or stage, a well presented purple haze in the appropriate size will often fool mayfly focused fish. Sizes 14-18 will cover the most prolific mayfly hatches around Bozeman. A size 18 purple haze can even work as a midge cluster in a pinch.

2. Elk hair caddis

Caddis are one of the most common bugs in every river around Bozeman. You’ll find numerous different dry fly imitations at local shops, but the elk hair caddis is an excellent all around choice. It sits high in the water with upright wings making it look like a natural, fluttering bug to the fish.

3. Chubby Chernobyl

“Chubbies” can pass for a range of larger insects including salmonflies, stoneflies, grasshoppers, and large caddis (like October caddis). The best thing about this fly is its visibility and buoyancy. They feature a foam strip and white poly-yarn wings that stick way up above the surface. They’re basically strike indicators that fish will eat. Use a chubby as your lead fly whenever big bugs are available and trail any nymph you like beneath it.

4. Parachute ant

By late summer most of the aquatic insect hatches on Bozeman area rivers have finished, but that doesn’t mean the trout stop eating on the surface. August and September are terrestrial season, when grasshoppers, beetles, and ants fall into the rivers and trout slurp them up. While hoppers get the glory, ants get the eats. Even when trout get fussy and start refusing grasshoppers, they’ll still often fall for an ant.

Best Bozeman Nymphs

1. Perdigon

If you only carry one mayfly nymph pattern, this is the one. The best thing about this fly is how quickly it sinks, so you can fish it on an indicator rig without having to add too much weight or fish it very effectively under a dry fly. Plus, trout just eat it. Carry a few in sizes from 12-20, and you can catch fish on every river around Bozeman.

2. Bead head soft-hackled hare’s ear

The exceptional fly fishing writer John Gierach (RIP) wrote that if he could only carry one fly for trout fishing, it would be a soft-hackled hare’s ear. It’s a classic pattern that effectively imitates a range of different caddis nymphs. Fish it deep on an indicator rig, shallow under a dry fly, or swing it on a tight line across the current just before a caddis hatch.

3. Pat’s rubberlegs

Simple, heavy, and buggy, this nymph will catch trout in any river that has a significant population of stoneflies including the Madison, Gallatin, and Yellowstone. Use this as your lead fly on a double nymph rig to add weight and attract fish. This fly can work all year long but is most effective when stoneflies are active, late March to early July.

4. Zirdle Bug

This fly was invented in Bozeman and will catch fish on every river in the area. It can pass for a stonefly, and even a baitfish, but is especially effective at imitating small crayfish, which are a primary food source for trout on the Lower Madison, Missouri, and Yellowstone. Fish a Zirdle Bug as your lead fly in a double nymph rig with a small perdigon or hare’s ear behind it.

Best Bozeman Streamers

1. Olive wooly bugger

Wooly buggers have probably caught more fish than any other fly pattern ever created. If you don’t know what to fish, try a bugger. This fly works well in black and brown, but olive is the most consistently effective color across all Bozeman rivers. Swing it across the current, cast it out and retrieve it with slow strips, or drift it under an indicator—it’s an incredibly versatile streamer.

2. Home invader

Designed by Bozeman area guide and tyer Doug McKnight, the home invader is a medium sized streamer pattern that’s relatively easy to cast, fishes well, and catches the heck out of predatory trout. Cast this fly near banks or other holding structure and retrieve it with erratic strips to imitate a wounded or distressed baitfish.

3. Barely legal

The brainchild of Kelly Galloup, an innovative tyer and angler who literally wrote the book on modern trout streamers, this fly entices truly giant trout. It’s a large, articulated pattern, which makes it slightly more difficult to cast, but it’s extended profile and underwater undulation make it a great choice for targeting big fish.

4. Pearl zonker

Similar to wooly buggers, zonkers will catch trout on nearly every Bozeman area river any time of the year. A relatively light pattern that’s easy to cast and effectively imitates a small baitfish, zonkers can be stripped, swung, or fished under an indicator. This fly is especially good up and down the Madison River.

Go Deep

All the sizes, colors, styles, and patterns of flies out there can feel intimidating, but you don’t need to own a fly shop to catch trout. Carrying a few different sizes of the above flies will allow you to successfully fly fish near Bozeman across every season of the year.

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