Fall Fly Fishing is Heating up in SW Montana

The following is a guest post from Brian McGeehan, owner and outfitter at Montana Angler Fly Fishing in Bozeman, Montana.

Montana fly fishing is synonymous with large wild trout. There is no better season to hook up with the largest fish in our legendary rivers than late September and October. Large browns ranging from 20-35” become less wary in preparation to spawn in November. Rivers such as the Madison, Stillwater, Yellowstone, Missouri and Ruby all produce a healthy population of trophy trout. Some oversized fish also move out of larger rivers into smaller tributaries. On large rivers dead drifting big sculpins or wooly buggers trailed by a smaller nymph or egg pattern can be very productive. Many anglers also love to throw large streamers in the fall. Pre-spawn browns become territorial and aggressive and will hit large streamers retrieved with a stripping motion.  As fall progresses and water temperatures drop it is important to slow the retrieve when streamer fishing.  When large trout move into small streams on private ranches, focus on deeper runs with either big nymphs or streamers twitched around deep bends.  Although cloudy days in the fall can produce great dry fly fishing during blue winged olive hatches, most large trout are hooked on large streamers either stripped or dead drifted.

Brian McGeehan – owner and outfitter of Montana Angler Fly Fishing