Category Archives: Hatches

The Mother's Day Caddis Hatch occurs on many of Montana's rivers during late spring. This exciting hatch can begin in late April and run well into May. Freestone rivers like the Gallatin, Smith, and Yellowstone Rivers near Bozeman can experience some pre-runoff dry fly fishing while tailwater rivers...

Planning a fly fishing trip should be an enjoyable experience. Whether you are looking at going on a fishing trip to Montana or wanting to fish a global fly fishing travel destination, it is important to carefully plan your trip. The success of catching fish on a fly fishing trip depends on many...

Spring fly fishing is some of the most anticipated of the year. Getting out of the winter hibernation mode is often an excuse enough to go fishing. For many anglers catching a fish is a bonus–the real success is just getting out on the water after another long winter. But, wouldn’t it be nice to...

Mayflies make up a large portion of any trout's diet. From the limestone creeks of the East to the untamed rivers of Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand, to our home waters in Montana, dozens of mayfly species provide food and forage for trout to grow healthy and large. Narrow the list of the dozens...

Late summer in Montana brings some of the most highly anticipated dry fly fishing of the season: "hopper fishing!". Montana's numerous large agricultural valleys filled with alfalfa fields are a haven for the large insects. Although grasshoppers fill the fields in the early summer, trout do not get...

Montana’s rich and varied wild trout fisheries offer anglers year round fishing opportunities. While it is difficult to elevate any one time of the year as the “best” time to fish the Big Sky state’s blue ribbon rivers, there is no doubt that the most anticipated time of year coincides with the...

Crayfish, sometimes called crawdads or mud bugs, are large freshwater crustaceans that inhabit many of the rivers and streams of southwest Montana. Resembling a miniaturized Maine lobster, crawfish have long antennae, a pair of claws that can pinch hard enough to break skin, and a segmented tail...

For many fly anglers, late winter and early spring is a time of dreaming about fly fishing during warm summer days. For those who might want to get an earlier start on their fishing season, midges provide a great fly-fishing opportunity. Midge fishing can be productive as early as January on the...

April is one of the more exciting months of the year for Montana anglers. Although winter fishing is great...things really begin to get exciting when water temperatures begin rising in the spring. More and more water becomes accessible as ice shelves recede and snow banks melt off. One of the great...

The Mother’s Day caddis emergence is one of the most prolific aquatic insect hatches that anglers can expect to encounter on the larger rivers in Montana. This hatch is particularly strong on the Yellowstone River within Montana. The Mother’s Day caddis is an early season hatch that generally begins...