WE FISH ALL YEAR-ROUND & SO SHOULD YOU
Over the weekend, in almost any direction you looked from here in Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley you could see snow in the mountains. Winter is coming, and that means so is ice fishing, which over the last few years has become one of our favorite cold-weather pastimes.
It provides another way to experience Montana’s incredible outdoors during a time when you could just as easily be stuck at home. Plus, being in our heated tents and sharing the adventure of being out on the ice also makes for great ways to get to know our amazing clients who come from all over the world to share the wonder of this place we call home.
Safe ice will start to appear around mid-December (though some years we’ve seen it as early as Thanksgiving). The first waters to freeze are higher alpine lakes like Hegben and Harrison with bigger waters like Canyon Ferry following behind.
Just because ski season is on the horizon doesn’t mean fly fishing is over-and-done-with (In fact we just had someone who booked two days of fly fishing and two days of ice fishing for this winter). Along with ice fishing on the stillwaters, we guide the waters of southwest and west central Montana every month of the year. Plus, with sections of the Madison and Gardner rivers in Yellowstone National Park now open year-round there’s even more water to explore.
From November to March, we mostly focus our efforts during the warmest part of the day – from about 11 am to 3 pm – making a half-day trip the ideal way to get in some winter fly fishing. The feasibility of these trips are based on the weather so we’re open to last-minute bookings and can shift a fly fishing outing to an ice fishing trip if that’s the cards Mother Nature deals us.
RUNNERS TAKE YOUR MARKS
For those who haven’t been able to make it out on the water, we’re happy to report the fall run of spawning browns and migrating rainbows is off to a fun start.
As usual, the fishing has been better on overcast, crummy days but even on the sunny days we’ve been having success the first couple hours of the day–though things get more challenging as the sun gets higher in the sky.
It also helps that the bad weather keeps the fair-weather anglers away (more fish for us!). No matter the weather, we aim to be the first people with a fly in the water. Even in Yellowstone, where you can’t start fishing until sun-up, we’re in our spots ready and waiting. We know getting up early isn’t always easy especially when you’re on vacation, but being the early bird means the difference between a great day fishing and a fair day fishing.
On the Madison, with the bigger fish moving out of Ennis and Hegben lakes, we are landing fish with baetis patterns, eggs, stone fly nymphs, beadheads like the Shop Vac and even on some other Caddis patterns. As always, one of our go-tos is the Shakey Beeley, fished either on a dead drift or swinging it.
YELLOWSTONE STILL OPEN FOR FISHING
Even with the government shutdown continuing for another week, the gates for Yellowstone National Park remain open, as do the roads, trails and, you guessed it, the rivers. Not all services in the park are available (only the Mammoth Hot Springs, Canyon, and Old Faithful Visitor remain open and bathrooms), but that could be a good thing as it might limit the number of fishermen on the water.
While almost all waters in the park close to fishing on October 31, don’t forget that now the Madison River remains open from from the Wyoming/Montana state line downstream to the park boundary near the West Entrance in West Yellowstone and the Gardner River remains open from Osprey Falls downstream to the confluence with the Yellowstone River near the North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana.
Fishing in Yellowstone during the winter is a one-of-a-kind experience that should be on every fisherman’s bucket list.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING
We had a great combination of returning and new clients coming to fish with us this summer. It means the world to us that you choose making Trout on the Fly a part of your time spent in Montana and Yellowstone National Park.
A recent study from the University of Montana, Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks shows that in 2024 resident and nonresident anglers spent a combined $1.27 billion on fishing trips in Montana.
This means your trips fund a huge part of our economy, especially in western and southwestern Montana where most high-quality fishing can be found. This money supports guides, restaurants, hotels, fly shops, mom-and-pop stores and more.
Also, by making fishing a viable part of Montana’s economy anyone who fishes here is telling the federal, state and local governments that our wild places like rivers, mountains and undeveloped valleys should be protected for outdoor recreation.
For those that say you can’t put a price on the splendor of Montana’s natural landscape, usually we tend to agree. But, when it comes to dealing with legislators and big business that need to see the bottomline it helps to be able to point to a number with nine zeroes behind it. For that, we thank you!
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