Missouri River

The headwaters of the Missouri River sits just a short drive outside of Bozeman, the Gallatin River, Jefferson River and Madison River come together in Three Forks to form the great wide Missouri river. At the confluence the river gets the water that has usually been warmed by the summer heat, early spring can provide some trout but as the year goes on this section is filled with a healthy population of carp, defiantly made for the thrill seeker and not a good place for the purist. As the river flows north it makes it’s way to the town of Tolston and flows through a dam, from this point the water can become more productive, still in the summer months it is a bit too hot for consistent trout fishing. Early spring and fall this can be a great option as the trout average size are far bigger in this section of river than in some of the surrounding waters but numbers are not as high.

The river then heads through a few big reservoirs: Canyon Ferry, Hauser and Holter. The reservoirs help cool the water back down, and out it flows to a small town named Craig; this section is a two hour drive from Bozeman and can be a great place to go in the spring when the local rivers around Bozeman have all become too muddy to fish. Its a bit of a trek from Bozeman and usually not worth the drive when the rivers around Bozeman clear up as they usually fish better or just as good, it also can be a good option to stay in Craig and we can meet you there for a float down the Missouri River.

As summer heats up the Missouri River can become filled with green vegetation making the fishing far harder and a lot messier so we usually leave it to the local guides in Craig to have at it and stick to the cleaner water of the Madison River or Yellowstone River.