Narrow my choices for a summer fishing vacation

[dwa111]

Hi all - I've saved up some vacation time and am looking to take a 8-9 day fishing trip. I can likely make the trip the first or second week of July.

Right now, I am trying to decide between Montana, the PNW or potentially northern Maine. I would like to camp a few nights, but rent affordable lodging most nights.

I went to Montana last summer and stayed in Big Sky. Fished the Gallatin & smaller streams in the area. I went into West Yellowstone and fished Slough creek which was a blast.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the trip given the early July timing? Also, I didn't find resources on smaller Montana streams like we have here in Pennsylvania. Are there a good resources for scouting out less fished waters?

Appreciate any advice!

 

[RLeep2]

What I found while researching for the couple trips we took to the greater Missoula area over the last 3 years was that I had to sleuth a lot of this smaller water stuff out for myself by getting clues and whatnot on places and stream names from more general sources and then burrowing down into them for more specifics by Googling.

This is a good place to start a general inquiry: https://www.bigskyfishing.com/

A couple examples of the stuff I found by doing it this way:

http://bitterrootfishingloft.com/bitteroot_fishing.htm

http://destinationmissoula.org/fishing_locations

Not all the information you get this way will be super helpful, but enough will be worthwhile enough to give you other stuff to dial in on and check out. It's kind of a winnowing process...

The state gov't fisheries/fishing web site is also a good source in you take the time to find and chase details down. They have a pile of information available, but you have to find a lot of it: http://fwp.mt.gov/fish/

 

[dwa111]

Thanks for the info! It seems like Missoula is a good home base and the second link is a great resource for streams.

Does anyone have thoughts on early July? Are there still salmon flies? Can I get into any hopper action?

 

[pete41]

If you can-hold off until mid sept... that's when montana turns into MONTANA -

 

[lestrout]

yo dwa

The snowmelt might keep the rivers too high until later in July

 

[1fish]

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/water/wcs/gis/maps/mt_swepctnormal_update.pdf

 

[D-nymph]

I haven't looked at the snow pack maps this year, but in some years, "early July" Montana & Wyoming can still be in full on runoff mode with high & muddy rivers.

Easterners often assume the west mirrors conditions in the east, for any given time of year. We don't have 4-8 weeks of snow pack runoff here. It's very very different out there.

 

[dwa111]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I can hold off until September and just sneak in a long weekend or two up to NY or down to WV.

Any particular areas to focus on in September?

 

[timbow]

September-November is a great time, but I wouldn't be afraid to go mid-July like you originally planned. Yeah, the Madison range still has 50" of snow still waiting to melt with another cool off coming this week, but I would expect most rivers to be clear by July 1st. Runoff is a few weeks behind "normal" schedule but that can work out for you as well. Typically, by mid-July fish would have seen heavy pressure for almost a month and most of the big bugs would have come and gone for the most part. Cold, high water keeps anglers off the rivers and slows the stonefly hatch. Soon as the water clears and warms a bit the stones explode and it can be a great time. Just my two cents.

 

[dwa111]

Thanks. The more I think about it, September would be a better time for me. I have to go to India in later July for work so it would be a bit less hectic later in the year. Plus it will give me a bit more time to research and plan for Montana.

Lots of places to explore within a drive this summer.

 

[Oregon_OwlII]

I had a good time fishing for west slope native cutthroats on the St. Joe in Idaho. Went in late August/early September. The logistics for getting there might be a little more difficult than Montana if flying in from PA.

 

[moon1284]

Your original timeframe is pretty prime for the WB of the Penobscot just below rip dam near baxter SP in Maine. This is in the middle of nowhere. 45 minute drive to the nearest Hannaford's where you can get lobsters for $5.99/lb. 30 minute drive to cell phone service.

All native landlockeds and brook trout, no browns or rainbows. Very big water but you should figure it out in 8 or 9 days. If I had 8 or 9 days to fish in the beginning of July, I think I'd camp at Big Eddy CG or a pond very close by.

 

[raftman]

Your original timeframe is pretty prime for the WB of the Penobscot just below rip dam near baxter SP in Maine. This is in the middle of nowhere. 45 minute drive to the nearest Hannaford's where you can get lobsters for $5.99/lb. 30 minute drive to cell phone service. All native landlockeds and brook trout, no browns or rainbows. Very big water but you should figure it out in 8 or 9 days. If I had 8 or 9 days to fish in the beginning of July, I think I'd camp at Big Eddy CG or a pond very close by.

Heading there this Saturday....

 

[mt_flyfisher]

I’ve spent summers in Montana for the past 18 years, usually from May to early October. This year I’m staying home here in PA and not going to MT until sometime in September.

You specifically asked about resources for scouting out lesser fished waters. I’m not aware of anything that specifically identifies lesser fished waters across MT, however, I can tell you 2 things in general.

First, come September many of the larger, and most of the smaller streams in MT are “lesser fished” waters. Pick any of the mid-sized, and well some well known large streams or rivers and you’re likely to have them pretty much to yourself then.

Second, find yourself most any small tributary to one of the bigger, and better known rivers, and follow it upstream. Most of them contain good fishing, and most could be classified as lesser fished.

I’m going to be primarily staying in the West Yellowstone area this fall, targeting the large runners that come into the Madison from Hebgen Lake. That certainly won’t be lesser fished at that time of the year. However, on the drive out, I plan to spend some time on the Boulder, which I love dearly. Lots of cheap camping places there, as well as reasonably priced motels in Big Timber. And it will be lesser fished then.

I might stop and fish the upper Shields too, if I’m not in a hurry. Way up above Walsall would probably be considered as lesser known, and certainly lesser fished. Don’t tell that to those beautiful, big cutthroat up there though.

Sometime, I’ve also got to stop on my way just outside Bozeman, rather than driving through, and fish Hyalite Creek, up in the canyon. Is that considered lesser known? I don’t know, you could ride your bicycle to fish it if you lived in town. I just can’t get that afternoon out of my head that I caught an even 100 trout fishing dry flys there. I could have caught more, but thought that’s a good place to quit.

I’ll also fish a day or two with a good friend on the Yellowstone in Hayden Valley. There won’t be many fishermen there that time of the year, and our chances of fooling a couple of cutthroat in excess of 20” are pretty good.

I could tell you another dozen or more lesser know places to fish in that area, but then they might not be lesser known. However, I’d also need to tell you to carry bear spray. Could be that’s why they’re lesser fished.

 

[moon1284]

raftman wrote:

Your original timeframe is pretty prime for the WB of the Penobscot just below rip dam near baxter SP in Maine. This is in the middle of nowhere. 45 minute drive to the nearest Hannaford's where you can get lobsters for $5.99/lb. 30 minute drive to cell phone service. All native landlockeds and brook trout, no browns or rainbows. Very big water but you should figure it out in 8 or 9 days. If I had 8 or 9 days to fish in the beginning of July, I think I'd camp at Big Eddy CG or a pond very close by.

Heading there this Saturday....

Good luck. That's my favorite river in the east. Should be awesome. Looks like the release at McKay station is 2500cfs. Should be perfect.

 

[pete41]

"across the wide Missouri" anywhere from Toston to Helena above one of the lakes ----from sun off water until back on water[pray for cloudy days] from after first couple of hard frosts until mid Oct...first hard frosts should come around first Sept.. water clears, and the "Big UN's" start moving up and become catch able[sp] by fly fishermen--using shooting heads and appropriate streamers-
Suggestion from some one who lived there {Bozeman} and caught so many Bailey's version of wall fish [4 pds up] I wouldn't believe them if it it was anyone else..... now if I could only learn to type..

 

[dwa111]

Just a quick report back... I took pete41's advice and headed to Montana last week. It was an awesome trip. I caught a lot of fish and fished all over the western part of the state. Below are the rivers I fished:

Gallatin
Madison
Gibbon
Gartner
Yellowstone
Kootanai
Missouri
Blackfoot
Bull River

I didn't land any really big fish but I had 4-5 huge fish (over 22) that got off for one reason or another. Next years I am going to fish each river longer in hopes of bigger fish. Less driving, more fishing (I put 2900 miles on the rental, including a wax run to Washington State). I have a good feel for the rivers and know the ones I want to go back to.

Thanks again for the advice pete... I hope to make this an annual tradition.