DePuy’s Spring Creek is the classic, western spring creek. Silky water that slowly meanders its way through a valley floor lined with the Willows and hundred-year-old Cottonwood trees. Gentle runs where wild trout pile into during the world-renowned hatches that have made this particular spring creek a “must-fish” destination for the serious fly angler. Surprisingly deep pools and ideal bank structures afford the wary spring creek trout places to hide and rest during the slower times of the day. DePuy’s is one of our longtime favorite places to fly fish for wild trout around Bozeman.
The creek starts about 1.5 miles above the property line between the O’Hair and DePuy family ranches. DePuy’s boasts about 3 miles of spring creek that has been managed, maintained, and improved with the fly fisherman in mind. As the largest spring creek property in Paradise Valley, Depuy’s can handle several small groups of anglers a day without ever feeling too crowded, especially during heavy hatch periods.
Anglers generally describe Depuy’s in terms of an upper, middle, and lower creek. Each section has a mile or so of fishable with fantastic banks, prolific weed-beds, and a frim, silty streambed. The upper section starts at the property boundary with the O’ Hair Ranch and runs down to the second angler’s hut on the stream called, appropriately, the Middle Hut. Then the stream continues to flow north where it fills a small reservoir that holds fish and is home to myriad species of waterfowl including Trumpeter Swans. A small waterfall represents the start of the lower creeks which eventually flows into the Yellowstone River at the northernmost property boundary of the DePuy’s Ranch.
As with most western spring creek hatches, there is an amazing array of insect hatches that will, literally cover the water at times. Although all of the hatches can bring fish to the surface during the peak emergences, a few of our favorites hatches to fish on DePuy’s include Blue-winged Olives, Pale Morning Duns, and Caddis. The BWO and PMD hatches will last for hours when conditions are ideal, bringing hundreds and hundreds of feeding trout to the surface. This is classic, “match-the-hatch” fly-fishing requiring skilled presentations of flies that best imitate the natural insects. The Caddis hatches are more sporadic, generally run from April through the end of July, and oftentimes bring some of the larger trout in the creek to the surface in “splashy” rise-forms. There are plenty of other hatching insects too that keep the wild trout interested in feeding just about every day of the year on Depuy’s spring creek, including Midges, Trico’s and Callibaetis among others.
DePuy’s Spring Creek is a private water fishery that is well-known and highly regarded throughout the world. Access is limited to a maximum of 16 anglers a day and advanced reservations are highly suggested. Depuy’s charges a “Rod Fee” that varies between $40 and $120 a day/angler.
The Fins & Feathers fly-fishing guide service operates year-round on DePuy’s Spring Creek. In terms of a destination for a guided fly fishing trip around Bozeman, we usually recommend DePuy’s between Oct. 15 – April 14 as a great off-season choice for anglers with intermediate to advanced fly fishing skills. A day on DePuy’s is a great choice for anglers that fish with one of our Bozeman fly-fishing guides for several days and would like a change of pace for one of those days. Mid-season fishing on DePuy’s can be very challenging at times and a professional fly fishing guide can help make the difference between a day of frustration and a successful outing.
Guided fly fishing trips on DePuy’s Spring Creek are available upon request while inquiring or finalizing a booking. A deposit of 50% per angler’s rod fee is charged at the time of booking and is refundable with 60 days cancellation. Our standard guide rate of $650 for 1-2 anglers is in addition to the rod fees charged by DePuy’s. With this in mind, we typically recommend most private water options for anglers that would like to add some diversity to their multiple-day Bozeman fly fishing vacation.