Fly-Fishing
The Lodge Pole Inn is located on the Little Blackfoot River, forty miles of free-stone stream that offers outstanding wade fishing for brown trout and native cutthroats. The season begins in April and runs through November; hatches and insects include the Skwalla stonefly, Blue-wing Olive Mayflies, midges, Salmonflies, Golden Stoneflies, March Brown Mayflies, all manner of high-summer caddis, grasshoppers, ants, and finally October Caddis and more Blue-Wing Olives to end the season.
The Little Blackfoot River is born of cold water springs in the shadow of the continental divide. The upper reaches of the river are about as pure as water gets, and the river as it tumbles through the meadows and forests still harbors a healthy population of the endangered west-slope cutthroat trout. The lower river picks up limestone tributaries as it widens and deepens into a brown trout fishery, in a typical day you’ll see fish all the way from six to twenty inches. River access remains outstanding in a mix of private, state, and federal lands; you get the fish, but you don’t get the crowds.
There’s plenty of mountain creek fishing where you won’t see a soul, and for a big river experience, the Lodge Pole Inn is literally surrounded by some of the finest blue ribbon trout fishing waters in the world. The Missouri River, the Big Hole River, Rock Creek, and the Big Blackfoot River are all an hour or so away over some truly scenic highways. The Little Blackfoot flows into the Clark Fork River, the Warms Springs ponds and the famed Hog Hole are right down the road in land that was sacred to the Flathead Indian tribe. All these waters make easy day trips, local guides can be arranged.
Fly-fishing gear available for rent, $10/day, $45/week, flies and leaders extra.
Fishermen’s Comments:
“When I’m sitting home in New York City, dreaming about fishing in Montana, the river I dream about is the Little Blackfoot.”
Nick Redding, author of “The Last Cowboys At The End Of The World”
“Those were some damn good flies you showed us.”
Skinny and Cheese, trout bums
“You were right on when you told us where to fish. We caught trout right off the bat.”
John B., Billings, MT
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