After a two-year delay due to the pandemic, we finally made it back for a Spring fishing trip to Montana.
While I have fished other Montana rivers the only time I had fished the Missouri River was in April 2019, so this was my second trip back to this beautiful stretch of water. It's a seven hour drive from home to our home-away-from-home at Wolf Creek Angler in Wolf Creek Montana. Jason Orzechowski runs a great full service fly shop with guides, boat rentals and cabins & rooms for the travelling angler.
A short 15 minute drive will bring you to Craig Montana, a small fly-fishing community right on the Missouri River (population 43 in 2010). Craig is the quintessential fly fishing town, with three fly shops, lodging, a couple drinking establishments, a restaurant, a campground and no other services. This place is a "must see" for any fly fisher.
We fished five days, drifting various sections of the river. The weather was mixed and generally good for fishing, but the Montana winds were extremely challenging for two of the five days. The near gale force gusts on Day 4 were absolutely soul destroying. Absolutely no one was having fun on the river that day.
Fishing was good. I probably did the best in numbers of fish, but both Hal and Garnet caught bigger fish than I did. Most fish were taken on nymph rigs under an indicator; although there were a few times when we were able to switch to dry flys. We just didn't encounter the hatches that we expected, so I didn't use a single one of the five dozen caddis flies I tied in preparation for this trip (sizes 16-20, tan, olive, brown and grey). Same thing happened in April 2019. When flies are US $2.75 a piece, it makes sense to tie your own, maybe next time I'll tie the right patterns...
Perdigon nymphs tied on a jig hook seem to be very much in fashion these days. They are almost indestructible and sink like a rock. Recommended by fly shop staff and guides, size 18 and 16 perdigons were responsible for most of the fish brought to the net on this trip.
The Montana landscape has always appealed to me and I very much enjoy the long drive down. Once across the border we frequently saw antelope on the prairie grasslands. South of Greatfalls and Cascade the interstate parallels the Missouri River as it enters the Adel Mountains Volcanic Field. There are lots of opportunities to see wildlife along the river. We saw, deer, elk, mink and many many bird species.
All in all it was a good trip with a couple of good guys. Lots of beer and lots of laughs. Only two fly rods got broken - fortunately neither of them belonging to me. Hal's was just the rod tip and was remedied with a quick fix at a local fly shop . Garnet's accident was a little more catastrophic but it gave him reason to purchase a new Orvis Helios 3 fly rod.
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