Why Missoula?

I thought it was finally time to tackle the subject. So you are booking your dream trip finally coming out west. Where do you go? There is the so called (golden triangle) around southwestern Montana. What you have here is Yellowstone, Famous Rivers and awesome nymphing if that's your game. I have guided and fished here extensively. If you wanna bang triple digit whitefish in a day , this is THE place. Don't get me wrong I have caught huge Browns here and on dries, But outside of hopper season its just not a consistent thing on top. The scenery is awesome, the dry fly fishing isn't. plain and simple. When I was guiding on the Madison and the Yellowstone, I was in a core group of people who pushed dries....but its just not the place to do it. Throw in all the Mcmansions, wanna-be cowboys, and tourist traps and it isn't my scene. Oh I forgot the absolute traffic jam on these "pristine" streams. I have pulled in to boat ramps on the upper Madison and saw 60 boat trailers....around here I go elsewhere if i see five. Not exactly what I would call solitude. I'm not saying I don't fish in these places, but it all seems just a little to hectic and fake. I prefer my backyard. We have awesome scenery, big fish, solitude, and most importantly we whack em on dries. Nymphing to me is like going home with that kinda ugly girl at the bar at 2 am. We've all done it , but we'd prefer not to. Which is why Missoula was and still is the Mecca for headhunters. I have fished all over the west, south America and Canada and this is hands down the best dry fly fishery there is. For the majority of the year you can reasonably expect to catch fish on dries. For five months if you can't you may need to go see a doctor. When you throw in the laid back college town atmosphere and friendly people its hard to beat. At this junction I am not so sure it can be. So if you get a chance come out and see what you have been missing. Big trout,big dries and one of the coolest places on the planet. There is a reason it's called misSOULa. Tight lines. www.fivevalleysfishing.com