August is a great month for fly fishing in Montana. The weather consistently stays warm and the high water resulting from spring runoff is over. Comfortable weather, sunshine, and fly fishing with “big bugs” all come together in August in Montana. No other month offers the diversity of insects and variety of fishable water.
Aquatic insects available to the trout during August include caddis, midges, pale morning duns, western sulfur’s, grey drakes, callibeatis, damsel flies, and golden stoneflies. However, the aquatic insects are not the only bugs of interest to the trout during the dog days of summer. Terrestrials such as ants, beetles, hoppers, crickets, and spruce moths become a very important part of the fish diet.
The excitement of watching a trout eat a large dry fly on the surface while floating the iconic Yellowstone River becomes reality during the month of August. A portion of the insects on the trout’s menu are large, and the fish cash in on the juicy morsels. Amazingly, that is only part of the fun for the last month of summer.
The Paradise Valley spring creeks still get fishable numbers of aquatic insect hatches in the form of midges, PMDs, and sulphurs with the addition of ants, beetles, and hoppers. Also, the endless wade fishing opportunities in Yellowstone National Park come to fruition with stable water flows along with a mix of grey drakes, PMDs, golden stoneflies, ants, beetles, crickets, and hoppers. Last, but certainly not least, local private lakes offer casting to large cruising fish while they feed on callibaetis, damsel flies, ants, hoppers and beetles. Clearly, August fly fishing in Montana is when some of the most diverse fishing opportunities of the entire season come into play.
If catching big fish on big dry flies entices you, please contact us at Nelson’s Guides and Flies about setting up an August fly fishing trip. We can set up trips to include both wade and float fly fishing depending on the preferences of the angler. We also offer quality lodging at Nelson’s Spring Creek Lodge.