Montana Fly Fishing-Fall

Fall Fly fishing in Montana

This year fall was a great time to be fly fishing in southwest Montana.  Lots of big fish hit the net and there was no shortage of really nice days to be on the rivers and lakes.  Fall and early winter are one of my favorite times of year to be on the water.  The cotton woods and willows are turning yellow, the light is low and beautiful and the big browns are out of there summer haunts.  Without a doubt October and November are the best times of year to hunt for that brown trout of a lifetime.  Lake fish that are uncatchable in the summer move into our rivers where anglers actually have a chance at them.  Never knowing what you might hook into on the next cast is exhilarating through the fall even after having seen a seasons worth of Montana trout on the fly.  

The Madison river near Ennis Montana fished really well this fall.  As the summer crowds faded and the weather cooled the fish really seemed to start feeding on bigger flies with the kind of recklessness that we usually see in the spring. The Madison is performing well into the late season, depending on the weather there might be a nice enough day or afternoon to get out.