A guided day in Montana is a float. There are walk-wade guides here and good ones, but the Montana trip that people fly in for is a drift boat launched at a public access site in the morning, ten or fifteen miles of river, lunch on a gravel bar, and a takeout in the late afternoon with the truck already waiting. The rivers are long enough to make that the sensible way to fish them, and the public access system built by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks means there are launches everywhere. If you have never done a full-day float, this is the state to do it in.
The Madison
The Madison is the river most people mean when they say Montana. From Quake Lake down through the valley toward Ennis it is a broad, fast, riffle-everywhere freestone that fishes from the boat as a series of bank shots: cast to the edge, mend, drift, pick up, cast again, for miles. Guides run the valley sections in every configuration. Below Ennis Lake the lower Madison is bigger, warmer in summer, and better in spring and fall. Some upper reaches are managed as walk-wade water; a guide will know which, and Montana FWP has the current rules.
The Salmonfly hatch in June is the Madison's headline, and guides book those weeks first. Behind it come Golden Stones, caddis, and PMDs through July, hoppers in August, and Blue-Winged Olives and streamers into October.
The Missouri
The Missouri below Holter Dam is a different kind of Montana river: a tailwater, slow and glassy, with an enormous population of rainbows and browns and hatches that come off like clockwork. Craig is the hub. Guides launch there or at the dam and float toward Cascade. The Trico spinner falls of July and August are the reason to come in summer, the PMD and caddis emergences carry June, and the Blue-Winged Olive fishing in spring and fall is as reliable as any in the West. The Missouri is a nymphing river most hours of most days, with sowbugs and scuds under an indicator, and a dry-fly river when the bugs are on. It fishes through winter.
The Bighorn
The Bighorn below Yellowtail Dam is one of the most productive trout rivers in North America. The standard guided float runs from the Afterbay ramp at Fort Smith down to the 13-Mile access, and it is long enough to fill a day. Below that the river enters the Crow Reservation and requires tribal permits. The Bighorn is a year-round fishery with midges and Blue-Winged Olives in the cold months, caddis and PMDs in early summer, and Tricos in late summer, and it draws guides and anglers from everywhere when the Madison and Yellowstone are blown out with runoff.
The Yellowstone and Paradise Valley
The Yellowstone from Gardiner through Paradise Valley to Livingston is the longest undammed river in the lower 48, and the floats through the valley with the Absarokas on one side and the Gallatin Range on the other are the most scenic guided days in the state. It is Salmonfly water in late June and early July, Golden Stone and caddis water after, and a hopper river of the first rank in August and September. Because it is undammed it runs high through June, and Yellowstone guides watch the gauge at Livingston the way farmers watch the sky.
Southwest Montana and the Missoula rivers
The Big Hole floats from Melrose, fishes Salmonflies in June, and is Montana's last river with a wild population of fluvial Arctic grayling. The Gallatin through the canyon is walk-wade water, one of the few famous Montana rivers where the guide leaves the boat at home. Around Missoula, the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, and Clark Fork all float, all fish Salmonflies and Golden Stones in early summer, and all have public access sites strung along them. Rock Creek is a wading river with a Salmonfly hatch of its own. The South Fork of the Flathead in the Bob Marshall is a multi-day pack or float trip for native westslope cutthroat.
The seasonal shape of a Montana season
Spring, March into May, is tailwater season: the Missouri and Bighorn fish while the freestones are cold or rising. Runoff hits the freestones from mid-May into late June, and guides move to the tailwaters or to whichever freestone drops first. The Salmonfly moves upriver as the water drops, and guides chase it. July is the big month: everything is in, days are long, and the boats are full. August is hoppers and Tricos. September and October are the quiet, excellent months, with Blue-Winged Olives, streamers for browns, and rivers to yourself. Winter is the Missouri and the Bighorn, midday, with midges.
What is distinctive about Montana guiding
The outfitter system. Montana licenses outfitters through a state board and guides work under them, so the person rowing you is part of a licensed operation with insurance behind it. The network of fishing access sites maintained by Montana FWP makes the long float possible almost everywhere. And the culture: Montana guides expect to row all day, tie every knot, and work day after day from June through August. Buy your own Montana fishing license from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and check with them for the rules on the water you plan to fish. For every Montana river on the site, see fishing in Montana.