Gallatin River

englishprof

englishprof

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Mar 6, 2009
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May have a chance to stay in a house right on this river near Bozeman in July/August. How would you guys rate it as compared with other Montana streams?
 
uh, it's a river in montana, and you have a chance to stay on it, even if it's the worst river in montana, it's still better than ANYTHING here in PA.
in other words, GO!
 
Haha Biker, that was my exact thought. I heard there are only chubs and suckers in the Gallatin. You should PM JayL for info.
 
Read plenty about it, but was looking for a comparison. Understand your point, Biker. Becker.....JayL.....please. He probably thinks he owns the damn river.
 
Well then he should be able to help you.
 
I haven't fished it near Bozeman but have fished it in the park and as far north as Taylor's Fork. Excellent fishing, good hatches, hoppers and other terrestrials. Fish aren't super huge (a least not the ones I caught) but are plentiful and spunky.
 
Its good, not great. Easy access, although this is because 191 (truck traffic) runs parellel to. Beautiful drive, but fast. I managed a few dozen mid-sized browns on a hopper dropper rig in a lazy days fishing. Fun to fish your way from Bozeman to Yellowstone. Its popular so expect rafts and other fisherman.

Bozeman is an hour from the Madison (Ennis area). Here you will find bigger trouts.

Bozeman is a half hour from Livingston. Here you will find bigger trouts and spring creeks (with bigger trouts).

If your stay is long enough, plan to fish more than just the Gallitan but fish the Gallatin. Stop at Troutfitters in Bozeman. http://troutfitters.com/

 
I lived five miles away for 30 years.
Seldom fished it after the first five as Yellowstone and Madison are both within 20 miles.
However the part up the canyon[south ] would be a very comfortable place to fish for someone use to Pa. waters.Very pretty up there also.
The bigger rivers can be a little intimidating and frustrating for first timers.
If you have local friends by all means try them all.
plus tribs to the Gallatin can be fun and some really beautiful lakes up the Canyon.
you will enjoy-sounds like you will be there for salmon fly hatch.
 
There are no natives there, even though it's well documented that natives were there. So if natives are your thing, find some other places to fish alone with the Galatin.
 
No native cutties, Chaz but lotsa small to medium wild browns & bows. As Pete said, beautiful area and a good warm-up for the bigger rivers close by.
 
I'm planning a trip in July to visit with Jay, once I put my research in on the streams of that area maybe we can compare notes.
 

Visted Montana for the first time back in July. Of the 4 rivers I had a chance to fish, the Gallatin was my favorite. We did very well
caught lots of hard fighting rainbows and browns and a few cutts in the upper end, most in the 8-12"range but we did catch some larger ones. The best were 2 browns in the 20" range. Beautiful water, highly recommend.

We saw lots of rafters in the lower to middle section canyon sections. They would float through in pods of 10 rafts every 1/2 hour or so. The fish did not seem to mind. My favorite section was the upper portion near the Yellowstone entrance. Very meadowy beautiful area.

Even though the road was nearby I kept looking over by shoulder expecting to see a grizzly charging toward me.

You cant fish into the park without an additional Park License so we didnt bother. We didnt see that many other anglers but I think thats considered crowded by Montana standards.

We were their the last week of July and had luck with the following.

8:00am-10:30am Spruce Moth dry- heavy
afternoon- Prince and Stoneflys nymphs
Evening- PMD/sulfer-16-18.
 
Fish the East Gallatin and get a beer at Stacys.
 
I spent a little time on it once while driving between the bighorn and yellowstone area.
Very pretty stream for sure - but then so is just about any place out west IMO.
Caught lots of smallish fish, and we didn't hang around very long. Lots of better streams, that aren't very far away IMO
 
I bicycled along it from the park to the Bozeman area. Nice river, nice habitat, which is much more readily seen from a bike than a car. Would have loved to have had the time to fish it. My recollection is that parts of it become warm during some summers and it is one of the rivers on which MT requires that all fishing terminate by a certain time of day during those particular summers. Others may be able to fill you in on this.
 
Down in the valley they draw down so much water for irrigating out of the "West Gallatin" its really nothing to get excited about-far more interesting from mouth of Gallatin canyon up stream/south.
The lower Gallatin from where east and west branches meet is one of the least appreciated stretches in the state as its tough to get at and hard to wade fish[deep].You know there are some huge fish in there but good luck getting to them.
Rattlesnakes can be expected in the rip rap in lower valley but none from Canyon to headwaters as its hard rock country with no dens.
 
Mike wrote:
My recollection is that parts of it become warm during some summers and it is one of the rivers on which MT requires that all fishing terminate by a certain time of day during those particular summers. Others may be able to fill you in on this.
Mike do you think this helps the trout at all?
 
What does, like 91 miles on non-stop wild rainbow, road accessable water mean to you? Huh? Neigh Baahd, Laddie! I mean, are you serious? My bud works out of East Slope Anglers in Big Sky. I stayed with him a few times. From there, the Madison is like 1 1/2 hours and the lower Yellowstone around Livingston is about the same. Big humps every day to fish; like if I drove from home to Spring Creek almost and said "Hey this week I'm on a fishing vacation". Try the scattered boulder rock-garden looking spots. Avoid the really deep or flat, fast places that LACK deep cover. Hit any meadow area carefully. Last time I was out there, I landed an honest 20 incher on a sz. 14 caddis at sunset. Not in the madison or yellowstone, but the Gallatin.
 
bikerfish wrote:
uh, it's a river in montana, and you have a chance to stay on it, even if it's the worst river in montana, it's still better than ANYTHING here in PA.
in other words, GO!

What Biker said.
 
I was there about three years ago. I think it is a very good stream. I caught a 25 inch brown. And countless bows. There is no cuts in there. I would recommend going down to Jackson hole to fish for cuts. Most of my fishing was done sub surface. I think if you go in July you might get better hatches. I can highly recommend a guide if you want one as well.
 
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