Seasons

Spring (April & May) is a great time of year to use Bozeman as a travel hub. We offer multi-day Spring trips tailored to each client's interests and needs. In April we'll typically fish baetis and midge hatches on the Missouri and Madison. Streamer fishing can also be excellent. May finds us chasing the Mothers Day caddis hatch on the rivers of Southwest Montana. Spring weather can be temperamental and changes come quickly, so be prepared with warm and cold weather clothing. Despite the weather spring is the best time of year to experience Montan's best rivers without the crowds.

In June we'll typically be seeing runoff as the weather warms and the snow melts, rivers will rise and get color. Fishing during the runoff period can be epic or impossible depending on the snow pack and the rate at which it melts. There are always good fishing options regardless of river levels. In June we'll see a variety of hatches from midges to drakes. Our best known hatch at this time of year is the salmon fly. We typically see the head of the hatch on the Upper Madison from late June into the first week of July. The Gallatin, Big Hole and Yellowstone all have good Salmon Fly hatches along with a handful of rivers in YNP.

July will usually offer the most consistent fishing of the season. Excellent dry fly fishing is available to the floating or wading angler. The Madison is excellent this time of year!

August is known for terrestrial fishing on the Madison and in the Park. Hoppers, ants and big attractor flies are very effective this time of the year. Gulper fishing on Hebgen Lake will get into full swing as well.

September offers the dedicated fly fisherman a great opportunity at catching a trophy trout. Hebgen's browns begin to stage for the autumn spawn in the Madison in the Park. Floating the Madison is still productive and one can expect to see less and less traffic as we approach October.

In October we'll generally hit the road once again with 4-8 day traveling trips. On these trips we concentrate on the Yellowstone, Missouri and lower Madison rivers. The majority of fishing will be streamers from the boats and dries while wading. Large, aggressive browns will often crush a well placed streamer this time of year and baetis hatches can be amazing. Like the spring, cooler temperatures keep many anglers indoors this time of year, making it one of our favorites.