Fly Fishing Montana: Water Types and Techniques

A first-timer fishing in Montana — if they are lucky enough to have time to roam — is almost sure to be overwhelmed by the variety of settings and conditions. You can, of course, spend an entire week on a single river and never have one morning’s or afternoon’s fishing like another, if only because of changes in weather. But the real determinant of how you fish will be the water type of your chosen destination. Spring creeks, for example, usually mean selective fish and call for highly imitative patterns. Small freestone creeks put the focus on an entirely different discipline: controlling drift and drag.
This week Brant Oswald shares his insight into how to shift tactics when sampling Montana’s trout fisheries in “Montana Water Types and Techniques.”