I'm planning a trip to Montana to do some fly fishing and I'm hearing a lot of debating on the best rod to take...6ft or 8ft? Anybody got any input? Montana will be a new world for me...
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Montana fly fishing
- Thread starter jecook
- Start date
yeah thanks for the invite!
I'd take a 9' or 10' 5wt rod. A 9' 5wt will give you the best all around fishing as long as you get one with a good responsive tip and proper strength taper from tip to butt. If you need a few brand recommendations I can assist.
When is your trip and where are you going? That will play a big factor in what I'd recommend.
I've been and love it up there. I also have a few connections there that are guides and good friends of mine.
Let me know if you need any rod brand advice or river advice, or fly advice, etc.
When is your trip and where are you going? That will play a big factor in what I'd recommend.
I've been and love it up there. I also have a few connections there that are guides and good friends of mine.
Let me know if you need any rod brand advice or river advice, or fly advice, etc.
thanks, trout slayer (awesome name)...we haven't really picked a specific location yet but of course I hear good things about the madison. What kind of flies would you recommend there during june or jully. i'm prefer dry flies myself...A lot of my buddies are starting to use wet flies and tie a dry on about it. What's the name for that?
One of my buddies lives in missoula montona and is always posting great photos of trout he gets out there.
Ive been telling him im going to visit.
Ive been telling him im going to visit.
The Madison is a great river but there are hundreds of great places to fish. In June/July you will do well with terrestrials like grass hopper patterns, Chernobyl Ants, and flying ants for top water dries. The Hopper will be your best dry at that time. The snow melt should be tailed off by then too so the water shouldn't be way high and prevent a lot of wading.
Subsurface flies that would work in the summer would be large stoneflies, mid sized pheasant tails, midges, hares' ears, and really and standard patterns. Some streamers will be good too as the spawned fish eggs will be fry at that time.
If you can do it I'd suggest a day with a guide in a drift boat. You'll be able to cover a ton of water and you'll be able to get local knowledge for the rest of your trip. A lot of times what I'll do is hire a guide for the first day or half day and ask a million questions. Then I'll have the know how for the rest of the trip to go solo. If you need assistance with finding a guide I can ask my buddies up there if they could help you out.
I fished Idaho/Wyoming/Montana on trip in late July and while it wasn't the best time of year for trout it was a blast and I still had great luck. I landed a very nice 24" cutthroat on a size 10 hopper.
The part where you mentioned the wet and dry fly combo is called dry/dropper or sometimes hopper/dropper. It is a deadly combo that works great when a hatch is coming off as long as you match your flies to the hatch. For instance right now in GA there is typically a black caddis hatch during the day when the temps are above 50 degrees. Tying on a similar sized elk hair caddis as your dry, a soft hackle nymph as your second fly, and a caddis nymph under that as the lowest fly will put bugs in every water column and give you great opportunities for fish and sometimes even stick two or three fish at a time.
One thing you will see a lot of in the rivers that time of year are carp. They are tough to catch but they'd fight like a bonefish and they will test your equipment. Tons of fun on the fly. Use wooly buggers, dragonfly nymphs, stoneflies, and any other flies that will hang in slower water pockets. Be super stealthy and sight fish for them.
Again for the best all around rod I would recommend a 4 piece 9 foot 5 weight with mid-fast action. It will be easy to pack and will land just about anything you can tangle into out there. Again if you need brand recommendations I can help as well.
Feel free to ask anymore questions. If you can't tell I love this stuff. Hahahaha.
Thank you for all the info. Very helpful and I can tell you know your stuff. I'm sure I'll be picking your brain a lot on here. I started fly fishing about 5 years ago right before I moved to Alaska. I still feel like a rookie though. No doubt i'll have tons of questions for you in the future. Nice to see other people on here fly fish.
I have a few friends that fished in missoula and said it was great
Having been twice I would recommend at least two rods. The 5 weight mentioned above as well as a 6 weight if you encounter windy days (very likely). You also want some insurance of a spare rod on a trip like this.
We did very well in the Twin Bridges area - several different rivers you can choose from and a couple of well known outfitters in the area. Also very close to the Winston factory.
Good luck!
We did very well in the Twin Bridges area - several different rivers you can choose from and a couple of well known outfitters in the area. Also very close to the Winston factory.
Good luck!
