Our Montana Trip - Full Report W/ Pics And Blogs

[OKFlyFisher44]

So its been a month since the crew and I returned from spending 10 days in Montana. Been waiting to post here till I got all the blog posts finished up so you guys could just check them out the full story and plenty of pics. We had an absolute amazing time, floated some awesome rivers, hiked into some beautiful backcountry places, and caught some fish. Of course, we show up when they had been locked into a month long heat wave so that caused some problems with water levels and temps but that was the only major hitch in the trip.

We traveled to the Missoula area and fished the surrounding area then drove over to Craig to fish the Missouri on our final day before coming home. We took our drift boats with us as well. No guides. We did have a little inside help from a friend who works at a fly shop in Missoula.

Anyways, check out the links below to our blog for each part of the trip...

http://okietroutbum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-montana-project-part-1.html

http://okietroutbum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-montana-project-part-2.html

http://okietroutbum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-montana-project-part-3.html

http://okietroutbum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-montana-project-part-4.html

http://okietroutbum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-montana-project-part-5.html

http://okietroutbum.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-montana-project-part-6.html

Thanks for checking out our pics and blog. Leave some comments too!

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Color me jealous.

Wow.

Great pics and trip notes.

Wow.

I need to go.............

[Justin Spencer]

Sounded like a great trip, makes me want to give it a try!

[moguy1973]

I think I hang out with the wrong friends. Only one likes to fish. A trip like this would be pretty awesome like you guys did it. I'm jealous.

[Brian Wise]

Great write up! Anxiously awaiting video.....

[OKFlyFisher44]

Hoping to start on video this weekend...

[BruteFish83]

Sounds like a killer trip! Picking a centralized camp in order to fish a group a streams is definitely the way to do it. I fished the Bighorn in 2003 and have been aching to get back.

[Al Agnew]

Nice thing about Montana is that there are several different core areas that you can stay and fish a bunch of streams without having to relocate. I've lived part time out here for several years and spent a week or more each year out here since the mid-1990s, and I still haven't gotten to half the areas I want to go.

I just drove through the little town of Twin Bridges yesterday for the first time. It's where the Ruby, Beaverhead, and Big Hole come together to form the Jefferson. Of those four rivers, I've only fished the Big Hole. Within an hour's drive of Twin Bridges, you've probably got 200 miles or more of these four rivers to fish, including wading water and floating water, along with a bunch of small streams coming out of the mountains. There is one fly shop and a couple of motels in Twin Bridges, so obviously it's not one of the most famous Montana destinations, yet all these rivers are known for good fishing.

Livingston. Bozeman. Ennis. Twin Bridges. Helena. Missoula. Hamilton. Dillon. Kalispell. Great Falls. You could base in any of these areas and have a lot more fishing than you could do in a month, and if you went to every one of them and spent a month, you still wouldn't have fished many of the good rivers of Montana, let alone the smaller streams and high country lakes.

[Gavin]

You guys did it right. I really enjoyed your report!

[OKFlyFisher44]

Thanks fellas!