Fish It – Missoula Fishing Blog

Bryce McLean was born and raised in Montana, and has been fly fishing Montana Rivers for almost 20 years.  He first learned to fish on the Missouri River, but when he was 10 his family moved to the Bitterroot Valley. He has been fishing the Bitterroot River ever since.  This will be Bryce’s second season guiding Missoula area rivers, which he considers to be some of the best trout fisheries on planet earth.

Matt Devlin is originally from Annapolis, Maryland and learned to fool trout on the technical waters of the Gunpowder River.  He has fished in Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, Maine, Michigan, Indiana, North and South Carolina, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Idaho and Montana.  He thinks about flies and fishing a whole lot.

Spring Flyfishing Highlights and the Pursuit of a Dream

By BRYCE MCLEAN - (VIDEO) My dad, brother, and I have long dreamt of ca... more

Spring Runoff: Big Wheels Keep on Turnin’

By MATT DEVLIN - When the rivers are blown and life is playing like a b... more

How to Escape the Boat Hatch

By BRYCE MCLEAN - It's no mystery that spring brings good dry fly fishi... more

Zen and the Art of Not Fishing At All

By BRYCE MCLEAN - The other day, I was reminded of one of the great traditions of fly fishing: Not fishing at all, but just enjoying the scenery and watching the river flow by.... more

It’s Skwala Season on the Bitterroot River

By BRYCE MCLEAN - It's a special time of year to fish in Montana. When you look through snowflakes to see a 22-inch brown come up for a dry fly, you'll know what I mean.... more

Fly Fishing Film Tour This Friday at the Wilma

By BRYCE MCLEAN - The Fly Fishing Film Tour is this Friday at the Wilma!... more

Don’t Underestimate Fishing in Winter in Montana

By BRYCE MCLEAN - People often underestimate winter fishing in Montana. Sure, you might go 4 days without catching a fish, but on the fifth day, you might catch the biggest trout of your life. ... more

River to Table: A “Blast and Cast” Trout and Duck Harvest

By BRYCE MCLEAN and MATT DEVLIN - As big game season comes to an end, we find ourselves looking for other ways to spend our weekends. Fortunately, fishing season lives on and duck season still has two months to... more

Fall is for Swinging for Steelhead

By MATT DEVLIN and BRYCE MCLEAN - Fly-fishing for steelhead trout in the high-desert hills of eastern Idaho is all one could ever ask it to be.... more

Best Brown Trout Flies for Spawning Season

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. This weekend was the opening weekend of this year’s big game hunting season--one of the best weekends of the year. Unfortunately it falls during some of the best streamer fishin... more

Fly Fishing . . . the Comedy of Tragedy

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. Shakespeare was a fly fisherman. This claim is in no way academically nor historically supported, but he must have drawn his dichotomous inspiration from somewhere. And I’ll l... more

Don’t Hang Up the Rod and Reel Just Yet…

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. All we can say is don’t hang up the rod and reel on account of the calendar. When it comes to fly fishing in western Montana, you sort of can’t go wrong these days--just kind... more

Fall Fly Fishing in Western Montana

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. What is the best time to fish in Montana? I hear this question all the time, and my answer is always the same: September and that will never change. ... more

One-Way Ticket to Brown Town — Ode to Brown Trout

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. Their habits are clandestine, their legend strong, and their choice in living accommodations impeccable. The word brown falls pitifully short when describing these stream kings. ... more

The Four Stages of Fly Fishing

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. A wise man once told me that every fly fisherman goes through 4 distinct stages throughout their fishing life. At first I thought that he was simply spitting B.S., but I have rec... more

The Trip of All Trout Fishing Trips

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. Every year we pile in to our trucks and take off across Montana for a week of absolute trout fishing chaos. This year seemed to be more chaotic than any other, and it all added up... more

The Great Tube Hatch

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN. As summer wears on in earnest, the air and water temperatures approach each other and Missoulians get hot. What do Missoulians do when they get hot? Well they pile into the rive... more

The Year of the Twomper Trout

By BRYCE MCLEAN & MATT DEVLIN.Twomper is a term in fishing that you probably have never heard before. That’s because it’s a word made up, and used by trout bums from the Bitterroot Valley. It refers to an... more