Tight Lines in Red Lodge Montana.
I have fished Montana for over four decades and even have had conversations with legend Bud Lilly. I have fished with the author who completed George Brook’s final book, Rand Oslund. I’ve fished the Gallatin, Madison, Jefferson, Missouri, Big Horn, Smith River, Yellowstone, spring creeks, creeks in Yellowstone National Park and pretty much everywhere in the State, including several high mountain lakes.
Two years ago we moved to Red Lodge, Montana to pursue a Montana real estate development called The Spires at Red Lodge because Red Lodge real estate is still some of the best priced resort real estate anywhere in the entire Rocky Mountain region.
There is a beautiful Red Lodge, Montana real estate development called the Spires at Red Lodge. We came here because it is some of the last, best priced resort real estate in the Rocky Mountain region.
Just a short walk from anywhere in downtown is Rock Creek which is a free stone stream feed by the waters of the high Beartooth Plateau. The fish are eager and don’t get much pressure and as you move down stream they get bigger and bigger.
Just a 20 minute drive to the west from The Spires at Red Lodge development along U.S. Highway 78 in Red Lodge is Roscoe, Montana home to the Grizzly Bar. Stop there on the way back from fishing, not on the way up. Go about 4 miles out of Roscoe towards East Rosebud Lake until you cross a wooden bridge. You can park there and walk down, or walk up. Dry flies if they are rising and nymphs and streamers if they aren’t. Streamers will be more successful on cloudy days.
If you are in really good shape and want to catch some huge lake bound cutthroat then you can hot foot hike out of East Rosebud Canyon up to a lake known as Arch Lake. Of all of the dozens of lakes in the million acre Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness this is perhaps the finest and with the largest average size of trout. Of course this is a 2,500 vertical foot hike straight up out of the East Rosebud valley so it is not for the faint of heart and you are scrambling on large boulders and scree fields a lot.
A bit further west and north you arrive at the Stillwater. This is yet another free stone river but with much greater volume. The fishing in this river is outstanding in the second half of July and the remainder of the summer and fall. Bust out your best hopper pattern or an ant, better yet a hopper with an ant dropper. The big western streams see more traffic in a day then this river gets in a week.
Another good lake in April and May is Newton down in Cody, Wyoming. I’ve caught some 5 pound plus browns and bows in here on little size 18 and 20 drys. It is a blast. If they are rising try a parachute adams. If not try a leech or a bugger stripped nice and slow.
Another incredible spring time lake is Newton down in Cody, Wyoming; of course you will need a Wyoming fishing license but there are some very big rainbow and brown trout in this lake just two miles north of Cody.
The Bighorn River is only about 90 minutes away from Red Lodge across the Crow Indian reservation from Pryor, Montana and is probably one of the best tail water damn fisheries in the State, but it is usually quite crowded (I say this tongue in cheek because it is crowded by Westerners standards but not by many others).
South central Montana has some of the best fishing and Red Lodge real estate is some of the most reasonale mountain real estate anywhere in the west. Authentic Victorian mining town in the middle of a recreational Mecca.
