We fished the Missouri River in Craig, MT on a gorgeous early summer day with our good friend Matt Carara of Simms Fishing. He and his dog Skagit showed us a great time. We caught lots of fish, mainly in the 12-14 inch range, but did manage to land a few larger fish including one that was in the 20-inch range.

Our Takes: The Missouri River might be our favorite Southwestern Montana river to fish. It is surprisingly consistent and fishes nearly all year round. It is a large, western tailwater that has cold, clear water and loads of fish. The biomass of bug life is astonishing with hatches ranging from tricos to caddis to larger mayflies, espcially PMDs.

Flies:

Dries include Purple Haze (14-18), PMD Spinners, cripples, and emergers (16-18), any caddis dry (14-16), trico spinners and cripples (18-20).

Nymphs: Beadhead Caddis Emergers and pupae (14-18), Pheasant Tail Nymphs (16-18), Splitback PMD emergers (16-18)

Fish 3x to 5x mono with dries and 4x to 5x fluoro with nymphs. 5 or 6 weight rod.