The Missouri River : Fly Fishing

Photo Use Guidelines

The Missouri River runs for more than seven hundred miles in Montana, and for the angler contemplating a visit to Montana to fish the Missouri River, trying to figure out the best place to fish can seem overwhelming. Thankfully, this problem is easily solved. Only a couple of small sections of the Missouri River offer trout fishing, and only one section, between Holter Dam and Cascade, offers prime trout fishing waters.

This section will cover the upper half of the Missouri River, from its origin down to Great Falls, Montana. The lower half of the Missouri River, which stretches from Great Falls to the North Dakota border, is covered in our Eastern Montana rivers section.

Missouri River : Three Forks to Canyon Ferry Reservoir

The trout fishing in this section of the river is spotty. The bulk of the fish in this fifty mile section migrates upstream from Canyon Ferry Reservoir or end up in the Missouri River from some of the tributaries that feed it.

Large fish can be found in this section, though. Only the numbers of fish are low. Brown trout are the predominate species.

The Missouri River is frequently somewhat muddy in this stretch, limiting top water fishing. By and large, when fishing this section, streamers and nymphs are the flies of choice. Use large streamers on heavy tackle, pulling them along the river bottom, focusing on the deeper areas of the river.

This stretch of river, particularly between Canyon Ferry Reservoir and Totson Dam, does have one peak fishing time. During the fall, significant numbers of very large spawning brown trout migrate up from Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Fishing wet fly attractors can work well when fished over the deeper waters just below the surface.

For an angler who has never fished this section of the Missouri River, it is highly recommended to enlist the services of a guide, as it may prevent may long hours or days of trout-free fishing (whitefish are abundant in this stretch).

Missouri River : Hauser Dam to Holter Lake

The Missouri River only runs for three miles between Hauser Dam and the upper end of Holter Lake. The water is wide and the current is fast. As this stretch of river is so short, floating is not popular, offering the wade angler good fishing possibilities. Rainbow trout are the predominate species in this stretch, although large browns are found near the dam..

Photo Use Guidelines

Two techniques are popular along this stretch of river. The real large rainbows will be found right below Hauser dam, eating the various fish and other food that flow through the dam. To get at these larger fish requires large streamers on sinking lines, heavily weighted. If an angler can get large streamers down into the depths below the dam (not easy with the fast current and the depth of the water), an angler has a good chance to land rainbows in the three to five pound range.

The second technique is fly fishing dry flies during the caddis hatch during the summer further down from the dam. The Missouri River, while fast, has long runs and riffles, allowing for solid dry fly fishing during hatches.

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