Guided fly fishing trips with Doug Mcknight
Come enjoy a guided fly-fishing trip with Doug Mcknight based out of Livingston Montana. Doug guides and fishes all over Montana and specializes on the big waters of the Yellowstone, Madison and Missouri Rivers. Stillwater Lakes and some of Montana’s best private water are one of his specialties. Streamside lunch, transportation, the freshest fly patterns, and a good time are provided. The daily rate for 1 or 2 people is $450. Take your skills to the next level, or learn to fly fish for the first time, people of all ages and skill levels are welcome. Give Doug a shout if you are interested in booking some memorable fishing and learning some new skills, days are limited.
Angling Highlights in Montana
March - Although it is technically still winter, the fishing during the month of March can be outstanding, that is of course if you have the right weather. The Spring Creeks a few miles away from Livingston fish great all winter, and by mid March we see great Baetis and Midge hatches making for some great dry fly fishing with no one around. It is also off-season rates, so you can get on them for a paltry $40. The Yellowstone River can be excellent too, but is more weather dependant than the Spring Creeks. However, we can have good fishing on the Yellowstone, the water is low and clear, and the fish have not been messed with for months.
April - My hands down favorite month to catch big fish in Montana. It is prime time to fish streamers on the Yellowstone River, and every year a few lucky anglers land some huge fish. On a good day, a proficient streamer fisherman can expect to see some truly large brown trout as well a numbers of solid fish in the 16-20” range. At the same time, there are also good periods of dry fly fishing on the Yellowstone with Baetis and Midges. April is also the “ ice out” month on low country lakes like Burn’ s, Sitz, Story and many others. As soon as the ice is off, all the fish come into the shallows to eat. Sight fishing with streamers, nymphs, and some dries to giants is par usual.
May - another underrated month to come to Montana to fish. The famous mother’ s day Caddis can reach blizzard proportions on the Yellowstone making for some truly epic dry fly days, and at the same time you could see monsters that are willing to chase and destroy an oversize streamer. The Yellowstone typically goes into runoff mode by mid-month making it un-fishable until late June. Lake fishing gets even better in May, Giant Chironomids and Callibaetis begin to hatch making for some great fishing for fish that run 3-6 pounds on average and can near double figures.
June - Lakes continue to be the place to be, heavy hatches of Damsels, Callibaetis, and Chironomids. June is a great time to be sight fishing with dries and small nymphs for some behemoth fish. On an epic day, you could land 10-20 or more fish in the 3-8 pound range. By mid-late June (usually), the Madison and Yellowstone become fishable, and Salmonflies and Golden Stones can make for some great fishing with huge dry flies. By mid June, PMD’ s are starting on the Spring Creeks. The Henrys Fork is going off this month with hatches of PMDs, Green Drakes, and Caddis. The tailwaters of the Missouri and Bighorn can be really good pretty much the whole month.
July - this is a great month to be on the Yellowstone, as big flows begin to drop, the 2-3 weeks after it clears can be the best fishing of the entire year with dries, nymphs and streamers. Hopper fishing typically starts in mid July and can be awesome dry fly fishing. Just about everything in Montana is fishing well, sometimes the toughest thing is deciding where to go!
August - One great month if you like fishing grasshoppers, midnight stones and other beefy dry flies. Too many great fishing options to list!
September/October
Beautiful fall colors, great weather, & no crowds make fall a great time of year to be in Montana. In September there is still some good hopper fishing and later in the month through October, fall hatches make for some great dry fly fishing. Big Browns get aggressive and are on the move to their spawning grounds. This is another good time of year to hunt for some really large fish with streamers.
Doug McKnight
MT #12088 licensed guide
724 N. 3rd St.
Livingston, MT 59047
406.223.5659
Hank Bechard-Treasure State Outfitters (Doug’s Outfitter)
MT #10368 licensed outfitter
671 Green Tree Dr.
Belgrade, MT 59714
406.581.7722