Missoula Fly fishing guides will tell you if you catch a Brown Trout, you know what’s hatching. If you catch a Rainbow Trout, you know what’s hatching. But if you catch a Cutthroat Trout, well, you’ve just caught a Cutthroat! Lets take a look at...
The Clark Fork River covers lots of miles in western Montana, with many hatches along its length. The upper stretch is smaller and bit faster, making it prime water for stoneflies and caddis. The middle and lower stretches, especially below the Bitterroot River, are slower...
The Bitterroot River runs south to north through the Bitterroot valley, and is a very wader friendly river. Fishes big, wades small, and the Bitterroot River hatches are the most diverse in the Missoula area. Here is a list of some of our favorite hatches...
The Big Blackfoot River is where A River Runs Through It takes place. Home of the Big Fish, and it was taken on a big fly! The Blackfoot River is a perfect habitat for stoneflies and Caddis, and we’re going to start big! Here is a...
Rock Creek is the quintessential western river, and Missoula’s only Blue Ribbon trout stream. Many locals consider Rock Creek to be their home waters, and live for the stonefly hatches. If you could design a river for stoneflies, Rock Creek would be the model. Rock...
It’s a complicated world out there, the first time you dive in. Pteranarcys Californicus, Ephemerella Guttulata. It’s enough to send you back to the Royal Wulff and a Prince nymph. Which makes sense, because the only good description we’ve ever heard about why the Prince...
The Missoulian Angler Fly Shop is the oldest fly shop in Missoula, with over 100 years industry experience on staff. We’ve seen a few things in 35 years. This year we’re seeing Schroeder’s Parachute Hopper is hot, like microwave lasagna hot. We’ve stocked the Parachute Hopper...
There’s no doubt that Euro nymphing, or high sticking to the old timers, is the most productive way to take trout consistently with a fly. Euro nymph techniques provide pinpoint fly control on a tight line, utilizing flies designed for rapid sink rates to quickly...
Unless you ski or snowboard, things get a lot slower in the winter. Slower traffic, slower getting kids out of the house, slow cooker meals- face it, things just don’t move as fast in the cold. The same thing applies to winter nymph fishing for trout...
Lets start by saying the Missoulian Angler is at the far right on the bell curve. If left is the very casual angler, center is Missoula’s standard out fly fishing 50 days a year, we live on the far right. And if you bell curved the far right,...