Fly Fishing Missouri River Montana This includes a Missouri River fishing report
Type of Stream
Tailwaters
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Species
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
(Wild)
Location
Southwestern Montana
Size:
Large
Nearest Towns
Craig, Montana
Great Falls, Montana
Season
3rd Sat. May – Nov 30th (Year-round
for Catch and Release some areas)
Access:
Good
Non-Resident License
State of Montana
Species
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
(Wild)
Location
Southwestern Montana
Size:
Large
Nearest Towns
Craig, Montana
Great Falls, Montana
Season
3rd Sat. May – Nov 30th (Year-round
for Catch and Release some areas)
Access:
Good
Non-Resident License
State of Montana
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Missouri River Montana Fly Fishing Report – April 29, 2024
Conditions are good. Discharges and stream levels are still below a normal level and the water is clear. Good Light Green and Red or blood Midge hatches, Little Black Caddis, March Browns and Skwala stoneflies hatches continue to take place. Keep in touch with us as we update the Missouri River fishing report very often.
Stream Conditions:
Rate: 3690 ft Depth: 2.49
Afternoon Water Temperature: 48 degrees
Clarity: clear
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data Bl Holter Dam
Weather:
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Cream and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, work good here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Skwala Stoneflies: 10, nymphs, adults
March Browns, 12/14, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
Fly Fishing On The Missouri River In Montana: Be sure to check the Missouri River fishing report above often. We update it weekly. The Missouri River is formed by the waters of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers. It is a huge river, even in drought years. During the wet years when there is a heavy snow pack, the Missouri River is a giant. It is probably the only stream in Montana where a drought year possibly provides an advantage to anglers. Dams along the upper part of the Missouri keep the water cool and provide its excellent trout fishing. Fly fishing the Missouri River isn’t exactly for beginners. It can test the skills of the best anglers, but it can pay big dividends. The big river flows through wide-open country. Except for the spring runoff, it flows at a rather slow pace. The runoff is difficult to predict. The rivers water flows from melting snow from several large mountain ranges, so the snow pack can drastically change its flows. The Missouri River starts near the town of Three Forks Montana. It’s a huge river, over seven hundred miles long. It it damed at many locations. About two-hundred miles of its total length consist of lakes. For the most part, the Missouri River flows through valleys. There are areas of forest and low mountain ranges bordering the river but its banks mostly consist of agricultural fields and pastures. There are a few areas that have some cottonwood trees along the banks but that’s about it.After the Missouri is formed by the confluence of three rivers, it flows over Totson Dam. This dam does little for the trout. It’s a top water drainage and the warmest water is what flows over the dam. The next section of river is approximately twenty miles long before flowing into the Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Canyon Ferry Reservoir is a good still water destination. It’s a rather large, wide body of water in a large wide open valley. From Three Forks to the Canyon Ferry Reservoir trout exist but are not very plentiful. Given all the water in other nearby Montana Rivers, we consider this section hardly worth fishing unless your a local angler and have lots of time to explore it. Most of the trout found in this section move out of Canyon Ferry Reservoir at certain times of the year. Most of the trout are browns and some very large ones exist, but the fishing opportunities are only fair at best. Just below the Canyon Ferry Dam, the Missouri enters Hauser Lake. The Hauser Dam tailwater provides the first real stream fly fishing opportunity on the Missouri River. It’s a short section of tailwater, only three miles long, but well worth the effort it takes to access it. The Hauser tailwater flows into Holter Lake formed by the Holter Dam. This short section of river is quite wide and the flows are usually very fast making fishing difficult at times. Most anglers wade it as opposed to using a drift boat due to its short length. Rainbows and brown trout exist but the majority are rainbows. The trout average a large size. Most of the fishing is done just below the Hauser Dam using streamers. When the flows are right, anglers fish further down stream. There are sections of deep, fast runs and long riffles and dry fly fishing can be good at times. In most anglers opinion, the Holter Dam provides the best fly fishing opportunities on the Missouri River. Our Missouri River fishing report is based mostly on this section. It’s cold water discharge provides thirty miles of good, fly fishing opportunities. The river holds a very good population of trout. Access is excellent from the dam to Cascade.This section is by far the most popular section to fish, mostly due to the easy access but also the large trout. They can be very selective and are often difficult to catch. Don’t expect to fish by yourself. There are usually plenty of anglers both wading and drifting the river. When the flows are right, some anglers fish it from tube floats. It’s flows are smooth but sometimes tricky. Good presentations are a must.Not far below the dam and bridge, the river flows through a small, short canyon section. It flows through a valley below the short canyon section below the Wolf Creek Access Sites. The mighty Missouri enters a wide valley flanked by low elevation mountain ranges before it reaches the plains. The Dearborn River enters the Missouri in this section. The condition of the water downstream of the Dearborn confluence often depends on the water from the Dearborn River.The water downstream of Cascade becomes marginal trout water because the river slows down, widens out and become warmer in the Summer. The rainbows gradually disappear but the browns exist a few more miles downstream.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Missouri River: Fly fishing the Missouri River tailwaters is quite different from fly fishing most trout streams because the river is very large, extremely clear and smooth flowing.The river is full of aquatic plants and appears to be somewhat like a huge spring creek. Its trout are large and can be very selective to hatches. You could call them picky and you could call the fishing “technical” fishing. The trout are not easily fooled but they are plentiful and can be taken by anglers that are careful with their presentations. It is a stream where large trout can be caught on small flies. It is a stream where dry fly fishing is very good and for most of the entire year.Although there are four tailwaters on the upper portion of the Missouri River, the most popular and probably the best tailwater is below Holter Dam near Craig, Montana. The river can be fished from the bank, waded and fished from various types of boats including drift boats, canoes and pontoon type boats. The stream can be accessed on both sides of the river below Holter Dam.The Missouri River has some very large rainbow trout. They average about 16 inches but we have seen them caught over 20 inches. They claim that they are over 4000 trout per mile and we don’t doubt it at all. All the trout are wild and all of them will test your skills to the utmost. They can still be caught provided you do a few things right. The prove the point, I meet a man on the Ruby River from Washington D.C., that claimed he caught large rainbows on Parachute Adams on the Missouri River. I didn’t know whether or not he was telling the truth until I ran into him there a week later. He caught three all over 16 inches while I watched him fish. I tried it just upstream from him and couldn’t catch the first one. When he left, I tried it where he was fishing and still couldn’t catch one on the same fly he was using. It really had me bugged.The river has few riffles and runs. Most of it runs smooth and it is of course, normally very clear.The key is the presentation. Not just a drag free drift but also, making very sneaky presentations with a minimum number of cast. You can also spot trout eating and often rising to the surface. If you will take the time to skim the surface and see what they are eating, you can usually match it and catch plenty of trout.The Trico hatch runs for a long time and is one of the largest ones we have ever seen on any stream. It is a tough hatch to fish, but fish can be taken once you get everything down right. When that happens, nothing could be more rewarding. We have taken a couple close to 18 inch rainbows on the Trico hatch using 7x tippet and #20 flies. That is something else.One thing that can frustrate you, is that you can be wading along maybe thirty feet from the bank, and start spotting rising fish out in the middle of the river. When you work you way near enough to reach them, you can turn around and see risers behind you rising where you left from. That means one thing. You have spooked the trout with your presentations or you are using the wrong fly. All of the river below Holter Dam isn’t like a huge spring creek. There is a section of rough, fast water with large rocks and boulders. There are some riffles and runs in other places, so the entire river is actually very diverse.The section below the dam, where the water is smooth, has a gravel bottom and averages from one to three feet deep. The large trout are often very shallow, so you don’t have to wade out in the stream very far. In fact, that may be a big mistake.Trout can also be caught on streamers and nymphs. Anglers also use scuds, San Juan worms and caddis larvae imitations. The river also has plenty of brown trout that range from 12 to 24 inches. Often streamers and nymphs work best for them.
Missouri River Hatches and Trout Flies: Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Missouri River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726. If I had to pick one aquatic insect to imitate the entire year on the Missouri River, it would be the Blue-winged Olives. Of course there are several different species of them that hatch for most of the year. They usually start around the middle of March and last until about middle of June. Some species are bi-brooded and will hatch again in the Fall. Other species, along with the bi-brooded species, start again about the first of September and hatch until the middle of November.Western Green Drakes hatch from about the middle of May through June, but the hatch is usually sparse. The Little Western Green Drakes, or Flavs, hatch during July and August, but it is also a sparse hatch. Pale Morning Duns hatch from about the middle of June to the middle of August. These hatches can be fairly good and consistent. From about the first of September into the first week or two of October, you will find a few Mahogany Duns hatching. One of the better hatches that occurs on the Missouri River are the Tricos. They start about the first of July and last through the month of August. These hatches can be very prolific.There are many species of caddisflies that hatch on the Missouri. Probably the most plentiful species are those called Spotted Sedges. They hatch during the months of June and July. You also have a Little Black Caddis, or Brachycentrus hatch that occurs in May and again, during from the middle of July through August. The first hatch is usually called the Mother’s Day Hatch. Little Short-horned Sedges, which are the saddle cased caddis, hatch from about the first of June through July. In October and November, you will find hatches of October Caddis. This can be a very good hatch to fish on the Missouri River.Green Sedges hatch from about the first of July through September. Imitations of their larva stage of life, called Rock Worms, can be a good fly to use anytime of the year.Scuds and Sowbugs are very plentiful and fish can be caught using imitations of both just about anytime of the year. Our Perfect Fly imitations are the best you can buy along with just about any other insect you will find on the river. Crayfish are also plentiful. Imitations of them will catch the large brown and large rainbow trout.There are also plenty of the various species of baitfish and sculpin in the river. Streamers that imitate them are effective anytime during the season, but are most effective when it is near dark or very early in the morning. They also work good if the water has any color to it, but that is rather rare.Terrestrials are very important starting about the first of July and lasting through September. Grasshoppers are very abundant because the river is surrounded by hay fields in most areas. Hoppers are very, very plentiful. Ants and beetles also work at times, so don’t forget about them. As always, we recommend our “Perfect Flies”. Simply put, they are the best flies you can buy. They are not only the most realistic imitations of the insects, they are the most effective in catching trout. If you haven’t already done so, we hope you will give them a try. Thank you for visiting the Missouri River fishing report.