Montana Angler Fly Fishing Blog

Recent petitions have been filed to propose rules that would be part of a recreational plan for the Madison River. One of the petitions recommends banning boats for public fishing access on 18.6 miles of the Madison River. We support a recreation plan for the Madison River that includes setting...

This was it, I was finally going to check off a long-standing bucket list trip: fly fishing in Argentina. I was sure the fishing at Jurassic Lake (aka Lago Strobel) couldn’t live up to the hype. Stories of endless numbers of giant rainbows that are eager to eat scuds, leeches and large dry flies...

No fly rod is the perfect rod on every river, on every given day. I have often fallen in love with a rod on one river, fishing in one style; only to curse it later under different circumstances. I have also found that over and over again that the rod I enjoyed most behind the fly shop is not the one...

Everything seems to be a little bigger in Alaska; rivers, mountains, fish and bears all seem to be supersized. When it comes to exploring Alaska’s famed fly fishing, the renowned waters of the Bristol Bay area offer the highest density of salmon and trophy rainbow trout rivers in the world. This...

Wild fresh run Pacific steelhead are considered by many to be the ultimate gamefish on a fly rod. These electric sea run brethren of the rainbow trout grow large in the prolific waters of the North Pacific before entering coastal rivers prior to spawning. One of the most remote and least explored...

Many of Montana’s most famous trout rivers flow through agricultural valleys flanked by towering mountains. These fertile valleys provide an ideal habitat for large populations of grasshoppers. The bulk of aquatic insect hatches take a pause in mid summer (with a few exceptions like tricos). Once...

Fly of the Month: April 2018 El Camino, Skwala Stonefly tied by Andrew Grillos April fly fishing in Southwest Montana brings a wide variety of options, a favorite option is trying to hit the skwala stonefly hatch on one of our Montana Rivers. Certain rivers have larger populations of these small...

The Smith River is the crown jewel of Montana’s off-the-beaten path fisheries. The Smith is a small but float able river that winds its way through a limestone canyon that effectively divides the Big and Little Belt mountain ranges. Scenery is spectacular with a blend of lush meadows, towering...

The Madison River has long been an iconic fishery in the world of wild trout rivers. The fish counts, size of the fish, and spectacular scenery have attracted anglers from far and wide for many decades. The popularity of the sport of fly fishing as well as population growth in Western Montana has...

The quantity of amazing fly fishing destinations around the globe can keep the venturing angler busy for a lifetime. In the world of cold water salmonid fishing there are a handful of locations that are so uniquely different that they have no equal. Locations such as the Rio Grande sea run brown...