Montana fly fishing trips are great for anglers of all skill levels. The vast amount and variety of trout fishing water we have here in Montana makes it particularly great for beginner fly fishing.
In this guide to Montana fly fishing trips for beginners, we will cover the best time of year to fly fish in Montana; gear, including what weight rod is best for fly fishing Montana; what to wear while fly fishing in Montana; and what kind of fish we catch fly fishing in Montana, along with some other tips for your Montana fly fishing trip.
While Montana has fish all over it, the western half of the state is the best for fly fishing, and we are particularly fond of the Bozeman area. One can fly fish year-round in and around Bozeman. Trout can be caught on a fly rod in creeks that flow through the heart of town. Four blue-ribbon trout rivers are located within a half-hour drive of Bozeman – the Gallatin, Madison, Yellowstone, and Jefferson Rivers – each offering dozens to hundreds of miles of fishable water.
Countless mountain streams, spring creeks, alpine lakes, ponds, and reservoirs are nearby and great for fly fishing.
The town of about 50,000 people has all the amenities of a big city, including an airport, hotels, grocery stores, and late-night activities without the hustle and bustle of a large metropolitan area.
For those looking for a little more solitude, Bozeman is close to copious campgrounds, cabins, and Forest Service land, where anglers can experience a bit of nature or sleep under the stars.
World-class wild trout fisheries and diverse amenities make Bozeman the ideal destination for beginner anglers in search of a Montana fly fishing trip.
A five-weight fly fishing rod will be great for casting dry flies and small nymph rigs. It will also offer the delicacy needed to present a dry fly to a spooky rising fish who can be shy of a splashy cast. However, casting streamers and heavy nymph rigs in windy conditions is not necessarily ideal with a five-weight.
Six weights are our bread and butter, do everything fly rods. They cover just about all the bases. A six-weight rod is great for casting a double nymph rig, which consists of an indicator, two flies, and sometimes a piece of split shot. We fish nymphs all year long, but nymphing is our main way of fishing in the spring and fall.
Six-weight rods are also great during the summertime dry-fly fishing season. Just like the area of our state, a lot of the insects we imitate when fly fishing in Montana are quite large. A six-weight rod makes it easier to cast these large stonefly and grasshopper imitations, especially on windy days.
During the summer months, our Montana fishing guides often fish a dry-dropper rig, which typically consists of a large dry fly with a nymph suspended below. Six-weight rods are great for fishing these setups, which we often refer to as hopper-dropper or dry-dropper rigs.
Lastly, six-weight rods are also capable of fly fishing streamers. While a five-weight rod will be able to cast a small streamer, like a woolly bugger, a six-weight rod will be much more adept for beginners and especially when it comes to casting bigger flies, like the articulated streamers our guides are fond of when hunting for larger fish.
Overall, a five-weight rod or a six-weight rod are the best choices for fly fishing in Montana with our preference tilting toward a six-weight.
Three and four-weight rods can be a ton of fun while exploring small mountain streams. They are typically a bit shorter, which makes it less likely to get your rod caught in a tree branch when bushwhacking through old-growth forests or setting the hook in areas with overhanging trees.
Plus, their lightweight, more flexible nature, makes fighting small fish, which are often found in these streams, a bit more fun, though they also will handle the bigger fish we sometimes encounter on small creeks. They also reduce the likelihood of flinging a fish over one’s shoulder into a bush on an overly aggressive hook set.
Seven-weight rods are what we typically use for fly fishing large streamers. Seven weights offer a bit more backbone than six weights, which makes it easier to cast three- to six-inch flies and a sink tip line – our guides' preferred method for fly fishing for trophy trout in the spring and fall.
Larger rods, like eight and nine-weights are used for off-the-beaten-path species, like carp, bass, and even pike or musky. These are fish we don’t target every day but can be a ton of fun during specific times of the year.
Euro nymphing rods and Tenkara rods can be fun to use in fast-flowing pocket water, but we tend to steer beginners away from these specialty rods.
While many people think fly fishing in Montana means standing waist deep in a river decked out in boots and waders, the simple truth is we rarely wear waders during the prime fishing season, which runs from June through September.
Montana’s large rivers are quite difficult to wade, making floating the most productive and enjoyable method to fly fish the best trout waters in Montana.
Choosing your clothing carefully for the summer months will ensure that you are comfortable on the water during the best time of the year to flyfish Montana.
During the summer months, we like to shed the Gore-Tex in favor of sun protection. A typical summer day in Montana is sunny with highs in the 80s or 90s.
For these days we recommend wearing quick-dry pants or shorts and a long-sleeve, lightweight shirt. Most fly-fishing companies sell a variety of styles that meet these needs from button-down shirts to more functional sun hoodies with technical fabric packages.
If opting for a collared or crewneck shirt, it is a good idea to bring a neck gaiter, commonly called a buff, to protect your neck from the sun.
Polarized sunglasses are a must have item. They will allow you to better see through the water – we are searching for fish after all – and they offer eye protection. Fly fishing involves flinging hooks over our shoulders all day and no matter how experienced an angler is, everyone makes mistakes. Plus, the wind tends to gust at inopportune times. Sunglasses will make your day on the water more enjoyable while offering necessary protection.
Hats are high on our recommended list as river essentials as well. They cut glare when staring into the water and offer some sun protection. Classic baseball-style caps are most commonly used, but wide-brimmed straw hats can offer extra sun protection.
For footwear, we recommend sandals or shoes that are made for water. Hiking sandals, like Chacos, are great. There is very little wading when floating and low summer flows in the rivers make fishing from ankle-deep water more practical than at other times of the year. Focus on comfortable footwear such as flip flops or water shoes with some arch support on float trips and sparse wade fishing outings.
Along with the footwear mentioned above, wading anglers may want something with a little more grip on the sole. Oftentimes, people fly fishing in Montana during the summer wear their wading boots with a pair of neoprene socks. Fly fishing footwear companies also sell wet wading shoes, which are the best of both worlds. Their soles have a lot of grip, but they’re not as bulky as wading boots.
Rain jackets are the final garment on our necessary items list. Mountain weather is highly variable, and even if the forecast calls for a cloudless day, there is always a chance that a summer shower will rain down.
During the colder months, think late September to May, people fly fishing in Montana wear boots and waders. The water temperature during this time of year can range from 30 to 50 degrees, meaning if you are getting in the water, even for a short time, it helps to have waterproof pants on.
Waders are most commonly found in bib-styles, which are great for crossing deeper water and keeping legs dry during a rainstorm.
Wading boots resemble high-top hiking boots made with extra room to account for the waders’ neoprene booties. Wading boot soles have outer soles made of felt or rubber. Felt offers more grip on slippery river rocks, but mud, snow and ice tend to collect on felt soles when walking or hiking around the riverbanks. Nowadays, the rubber soles on boots are almost as grippy as felt. Felt-soled wading boots and shoes are outlawed in Yellowstone National Park.
The fly fishing season in Montana can be year-round; however, some seasons are more productive and more enjoyable than others.
The best time of the year to fly fish in Montana is typically from mid-June through mid-September. This is peak season. The water temperatures and the weather are great, making for happy fish and happy anglers.
These summer months see the most insect activity, which offers fish the greatest availability of food, compared to the rest of the year, meaning fish are feeding for longer periods of time giving you a better opportunity to trick them with an imitative fly.
There is roughly a month in the spring when Montana rivers get high and dirty from snow melting in the surrounding mountains, which we call runoff. Runoff typically occurs from mid-May to mid-June, depending on the weather and mountain snowpack.
Freestone rivers, those without dams, are usually too high and dirty to fish this time of year. Dammed rivers, known as tailwaters, often remain fishable during most of the runoff. This is also a great time to explore our lakes and reservoirs.
The shoulder seasons are more promising. Depending on the weather, we start fishing regularly sometime in March. During the spring months river temperatures creep into the 40s and 50s, causing the fish to get a bit friskier and spurring the first mayfly and caddis hatches of the year, which can offer periods of excellent dry fly fishing.
However, springtime in Montana can be bipolar. An April weekend can see a sunny Saturday with a high of 70 degrees followed by a snowstorm the next day. Because of the volatile weather, the fly fishing is also less consistent than in the summer months.
The fall is much like the spring. Insect activity starts to dwindle from the highs of the summer months and cooling water makes the fish less active. We can have great days in October and the beginning of November, but due to the volatility of the fishing and weather we tend to recommend those days for more experienced anglers.
The rest of the year offers the chance of great fly fishing as well – just ask a local and you’ll be told of an amazing day of fly fishing during a warm spell in February five years ago – but those days are unpredictable.
While most Montana rivers near Bozeman are open to fishing from mid-November through March, most anglers stay away for a variety of reasons, comfort being number one. The days are short, the weather is challenging and it’s dark more than half the day. Because fish are cold-blooded, they are not as active during winter months.
Beginner fly anglers are encouraged to avoid the winter months for their first Montana fly fishing outing, but the skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling is great!
Anglers fly fishing in Montana are normally targeting trout. Bozeman-area rivers are home to thousands of trout per mile.
There are a variety of trout species in the rivers and streams of Montana and certain rivers contain more of a certain species than others.
The most common kinds of trout we catch are Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Brown Trout.
Cutthroat Trout are native to Montana while Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout were introduced in the 1880s. Wild trout inhabit the rivers and streams of Montana whereas hatchery-raised trout are commonly introduced to the lakes and reservoirs.
Mountain Whitefish are a native Salmonid that are commonly caught on the fly while fly fishing for trout in Montana. Most people think that Whitefish aren’t as pretty as trout, but they can get rather large and are fun to catch on a fly rod nevertheless.
If you are new to fly fishing and a trout fishing trip is on your agenda, there is no place better than Bozeman, Montana. The abundance and proximity of world-class trout waters simply can’t be matched by anywhere else in the lower 48.
Ensure success by being well-prepared with the appropriate gear and apparel for the ever-changing Montana weather. Float and wade the legendary rivers near Bozeman between mid-June and late September for the best beginner trip for fly fishing in Montana.
Fins and Feathers Guide Service has been outfitting Montana fly fishing trips for over two decades. Expert and beginner anglers are welcome to experience Montana fly fishing with our talented staff of Montana fishing guides. Each trip is custom-tailored to the interests and skills of each client, ensuring a unique and productive outing for all of our guests.
