montana?

[butch4706]

heading to montana the end of july. Going to be near the bitteroot river. Looking for any advice on fly selection, technique, etc. Will be in the darby area. Any info helps. Thank's all.

[Nicechromer]

Will be there about the end of June. First time 4 me too. I'll let you know when I get back

[JD77]

I am not familiar with that particular area, but the biggest difference in general in my experiences in Montana is fishing small. There were days we used nothing bigger than 18s. By Oregon standards that is pretty dang small. That means 5x tippets and some of the fish are big for 5x. One day I broke off 6 nice fish and I don't think there was much I could do about it- hot fish on small flies and light tippet.

[BigSkyHunter]

heading to montana the end of july. Going to be near the bitteroot river. Looking for any advice on fly selection, technique, etc. Will be in the darby area. Any info helps. Thank's all.

The Bitteroot is a great area to fish that time of year. Here are a few options:

Head south out of Darby to the East Fork of the Bitteroot on Highway 93. It is about a 10 - 15 minute drive till you reach good access. Here is a location of a great place to park (45 51' 15.14" N, 114 01' 10.24" W). You can use Google earth to pull up an arial photo by searching those coordinates. It is a large pull off area with cliffs on both sides, probably will see some big horn sheep. Head down the bank and fish up river or down river. I always fished upriver. Then follow the highway back. Focus on the pools and down logs. The fish average 10" but I have taken a few just under 20". The hot setup is a hopper/dropper. Any hopper pattern from the local fly shop will work. Go with a copper john dropper.

The main bitteroot is also a good option. There is good access points that are well signed by MFWP. If you want to experience some incredible scenery with small creek fishing head up East Fork Road off of HWY 93(about 5 minutes south of the location mentioned above). There are several tributaries a few miles up the road, small fish but easy to hit a 50 to 100 fish day. Darby was one of my favorite areas when I went to school in Missoula.

[CrookedR]

I fished it last year when my wife and I were in Missoula for a wedding. I fished the same general area that Bigsky pointed you too, but instead of a hopper I used an elkhair caddis and caught a few in the 10" - 14" range. Didn't have as much time as I would have hoped for, but were hoping to go back next year and I'll for sure be trying out the hopper.

CR

[retaliate]

It's been 20 years since I fished Montana, but back then the Madison, Missouri, Yellowstone, & Lolo were best, still hard to go wrong in Montana, best Trout fishing I've ever had, seemed everythinkg I threw at them worked. Good Luck! Have Fun.

[Fire Fighter]

I spend at least a week every year fishing the Bitteroot and the Clarkfork rivers....not many places around with such a great opportunity to catch cutt's, cuttbows, rainbows and brownies! Stop into the Missoulian in Missoula or at the Red Barn on the upper Bitteroot for advice and access. I would also checkout www.classicjourneyoutfitters.com (http://www.classicjourneyoutfitters.com) for Joe's latest report. Be prepared to throw the "big" bugs and watch for the "toilet bowl" takes!!

Good Luck!

[007SPRIG]

While you're up the E.fork of the Bitterroot look for Bugle and Munson creeks they're full of trout.

[quackpipe]

Give me a call when you get here and I will give you unbiased advice. In the mean time you can keep an eye on the conditions and fishing reports from my website. July will be great fishing in Montana this year. We will have plenty of water and good dry fly fishing when you are here. There are tons of options from the bitterroot valley.
www.geocities.com/fourriversshuttle

[Abalone]

So who has fished around Billings ? I have a friend that is moving there this month which means I will have a place to stay when I go.
The Big hole, Yellowstone and Rosebud are near there. I wonder how the fishing is and how crowded it gets ?

Any good lakes ?

[butch4706]

Thank's everyone. I can't wait to get over there. Thanks for the info. It helps alot. I have never been there so I am totally lost. But should be fun exploring. And the gps coordinates are awsome. Thank's again. I will let you know how the trip was when I get back. Thank's again. butch.