Why we love High Water

Spring runoff is rolling full-bore on western Montana rivers right now. We all know the season: weather warms up, BBQ's become the weekend norm and the river goes all to haywire. While it is good idea to give the flyrods a rest while high-water is peaking and hazardous, there are plenty of reasons to be loaded and ready to go for that first day of post-runoff fishing.

A few of the best good reasons:
Biggest fish of the year are caught during or directly after runoff. Period. They have tons of water for protection and lots of food coming to them. This is when big fish crush subsurface flies with the least worry. This is when big fish smack bushy dry flies with the least worry. Know this and go get them.

Big water means fewer people on the river. If you like solitude then you already know that the "prime" months are a mixed bag: great flows and hatches and plenty of people to go with them. If you want to see 12-miles of river and not another boat, high-water season is the best season.

Adventure! We guides are out on the river every day and know how and where it is changing better than anyone (including Google). This is paramount to safety. The upshot for anyone visiting MT during high-water is getting to see the river at its absolute full-glory, side-channels spreading in every direction and filled with fish. Summer low flows can lull the fisherman to sleep: Spring fishing is an adventure you will not soon forget.

So mark the calendar up right now and plan on finding some big water, big fish, big stories. Welcome to Montana Spring.