Looka like I might have narrowed down a flyfish trip out to Missoula for next summer. Yes planning ahead. Fishing supposedly very good. Will be a guided float trip. Wife more than likely going to come along which I was glad to hear. So how is Missoula as a town? Food, shopping etc? We will be staying there in town too. I ask more for my wife than for myself. Thx

Lots of restaurants, small city, lots of shopping. Lots of liberals. Some say Missoula has two seasons.....winter and road construction. MTG

I had the best lamb curry ever at an Irish Pub in Missoula, go figure. Did a guided Steelhead trip in Salmon, Id. w/ the wife a few years back and she loved it and caught a huge native Steelie. We now consider guided float trips mandatory.



mike r

Thinkin' that you too are a rich man!

john

I'd try a little farther north, a trip down the North fork of the Flathead from Polebridge would be a trip of a life time. Do a little research. The Clarkfork around Missoula gets hammered. The Clark fork around Thompson falls is great fishing, but a mild boat ride on flat water but killer fishing.

Missoula as a town is liberal collage town full of homeless and stinky hippies. " Hint "

Gyros off of Reserve St.


Ambrosia. Ran by a couple of real Greek brothers.

Notorious P I G is a badass barbecue joint. As a town though, it sucks ass.

Missoula isn't really Montana and the Clarks Fork is an ok trout river.

Likely the world's crappiest Cabelas.

Shopping and restaurants in Missoula should be fine for your purposes. Mustard Seed for Chinese. Clarks Fork especially west of Missoula can be very good. East of Missoula it is better than folks think..hard to fish but can be surprisingly good.If you get as far down as Warm Springs there are some really nice Browns in there.....

Missoula is great! And only 45 minutes from Montana.

We spent a week on the Flathead River between Missoula and Plains a year ago.
Beautiful area, had a great time.
Didn't do much fishing, but did enjoy ourselves.

Small city compared to what, seattle, spokane?
Storming Norman pretty much summed it up.
Stay off Reserve from 7a.m to 7p.m the traffic will be bumper to bumper from one end of town to the other.
Kalispell these days isnt much better.

Missoula is a college town. That means the eating is usually pretty darn good downtown, and reasonably priced.

A Commie He//hole politically. You have my permission NOT to give money to the beggars who will probably approach you after you've eaten, or even before. But you'll eat pretty well.

Really depends on what rivers you are fishing, but I will second the Clark Fork can be a waste, or a real sleeper. I used to routinely fish (but not eat) between Butte and Missoula, depending on where I would camp. Some of it was a complete skunk, other times, I couldn't keep the line slack, usually in spots that don't look fishy at all. But that was before a plague of guides and amenity migrants descended upon our Treasure State.

For about four years, I had to spend two to four days in Missoula a couple of times each year. I don't miss it.

Go visit the "Museum of Mountain Flying" and the Smokejumper base.

We are headed to CdA 7/8, not looking forward going through Missoula on 93 to I-90 but things are pretty cool before and after the "BIG CITY". I am having trouble finding a place in the mountain west that I don't like.



mike r

Much better trout fishing in MT than the Clark fork. Live in Thompson / trout creek area and wouldn’t travel to fish it. Not much for floating. More of a lake than river and better bass and pike fishing than trout on the Clark fork.

Not a fan of Missoula. Don’t consider it Montana. Kalispell is slightly better but getting crowded as well

Well dang. Doesn't sound very positive

The Depot...Best prime rib anywhere but here...

Watch a couple of videos on floating the north fork flathead. It’s truly some of the most amazing scenery in the country. If you can find a guide to take you from the Canadian border launch down. It’s about 2 hours from Columbia falls to the border. If you want a foo foo experience stay in whitefish, the tourist town. Early July is probably the best time for weather and water. Not the best fishing on the planet, but usually decent. Lots of good eats in whitefish, and lots of tourists shops.

If you want a little more grit there is the blue and white in Kalispell

We, my wife and I, just finished day one fishing the Kootenay outside Libby. We are staying in a cabin in Yaak that is owned by the outfitter and making our own meals short of lunch. We floated 10 miles and caught forty or so rainbows. Saw no one else on the river. So far, an excellent experience and clearly solid conservative folks here. Two more days of fishing left. Enjoy your trip.

So any other suggestions maybe?. Definitely not set on Missoula just thought it might work. Looking for a great western fishing experience and also things wife and I could do dinner, shopping etc. Was originally going out west by my lonesome but she can get off work and would like to go and I certainly dont mind as neither one of us has seen the areas mentioned.

For fishing try around Bozeman or Livingston. Gallatin, Madison, Yellowstone , Jefferson and Missouri are all within easy driving distance. Spring creeks too. Bozeman has more amenities but is not cheap. Livingston is more reasonable for both lodging and food but not as many choices. Great guides in both places. Have fun!

As far as "cities" go, Missoula is a small to medium sized college town with 1970's vintage traffic routes/streets in town.

Not a bad place to visit, but its far from being a conservative mecca where most right-minded people would want to live.

I don't think you could have picked a worst place to go in MT. Unless you enjoy being around homeless, hippies, and Liberals. The fishing is pretty much as has already been stated. I am gathering you are looking for the city life first, fishing second.

I think Bozeman would be a much better choice in all regards. If you decided to change it up the Western Cafe, The Oasis, and Dave's Sushi of Main are all great. There are a bunch of very good restaurants in Bozeman or within a reasonable drive. You are close to a bunch of great rivers to fish, and it isn't called Bozangeles for nothing! So plenty of shopping to be had too.

Bozeman is 3x cooler than Missoula in all regards.

If you go late in the year, in the past when we have hot dry summers F@G puts restrictions on the hours you can fish on the rivers that get fished hard.

I would not book a flyfishing trip in Missoula.

Shrapnel is on vacation right now but I would PM him about flyfishing around Bozeman.

Yes.

Maybe 5x but didn't want to get Rancho and Shrap all horned up.....

You know better than I but I think 3X was fair.

Missoula is Missoula....

I have yet to talk to anyone in Missoula that was born in Montana.

I met 3 professors from Montana state at a gas station. They wanted to borrow a gas can from me to rescue their other vehicle.
I asked how they knew it was out of gas and got blank stares.
I told them a joke from a 1970 Cheech and Chong record.
The engine turns over fast, "RrRrRrRrRrRrRrRr"
Cheech yells "Cool it man! Any idiot can see the battery is dead!"
The two men proffesors just stared at me, not getting the joke.
The woman professor laughed.
I focused my car troubleshooting aid on her.

I would look at Dillon.

Some great fishing on the Beaverhead and the Big Hole and a cool little town.

You can fly into Helena, Missoula, Bozeman or Butte and only be about 2 hours from Dillon.

You are can also check out Virginia City and drop over the hill into Ennis and fish the Madison. Those are all cool areas and neat stops in between in places like Twin Bridges and Sheridan.

Bannock is also a cool area along with Wise River and some of that area.

Lots of creek fishing and hiking near there too.

The Upper Ruby River valley is gorgeous as well.

Just a thought.

Ps: Missoula isn't that bad and eat at The Pearl if you go. It's worth it.

yep fly fish Montana a lot.

Would not go to Missoula area for a strictly fly fishing trip and I fish Rock Creek and area waters quite a bit.
Kootenay has great unpressured, by Montana standards, fishing.

Id head up north of Missoula and fish Augusta area. sun river and north the flathead

The Yellowstone, Madison, Beaverhead, Bighole and even the N. fk Flathead would be better fishing and more scenic than the Clarks Fork.... and as Ed showed in his pic's the Kootenay can be very good and uncrowded. I personally would avoid the Bighorn, it holds more fish than all the others but they are well fed and can be very fussy, also expect large crowds boat traffic and so so scenery.
Basing in Bozeman is solid advice.

The N Fk. Flathead;

I would say this outfit is some of the best.
I've stayed in these cabins too. The Outfitters are good, as well the guide in the boat. (Sean)
Ed, I hope you're enjoying NW Montana.

Ok . Great advice! Missoula is out. Will look at other options

Best prime rib I ever had was at The Depot, awww [bleep] it was close to 20 years ago, it was blackened.

I love that area.

But I don't think his wife gonna like the things-to-do list in Augusta.

If you want the “Montana lite” experience and crowded mediocre fishing the Missoula area would fit the bill.

If you fly in to Missoula, look for an outfitter south in the Bitterroot, there are several, not a scenic as north of Missoula, but i think a whole lot cheaper, the Bitterroot has some great fishing spots, but Missoula is a hippy hell hole, I live an hour away and avoid Missoula at all cost, if we got go there for a dr or something its in and out. can't stand the place.

If you want the full Montana experience I would recommend staying at Chico Hot springs in Pray , Mt. it sits in the middle of paradise valley the scenery is unbeatable and the Yellowstone river is the Yankee Stadium of trout rivers.
Chico has a great restaurant, cabins, hotel rooms etc... you could drive to Bozeman for shopping etc...

The Yellowstone is excellent fishing with great outfitters. I would recommend at least a day fishing downstream from Livingston... the fish get bigger!

I have been to Missoula many times in my life and they were always because I had to go through there to get where I was going.
As far as fishing and seeing the best parts of Montana go East!! Northwest Montana aint bad either!

What he said!

I was in Missoula a little while ago.

South a bit....Corvallis in fact. State volunteer firefighter convention.


Nice area, friendly people.


My friend says the Stockman is still a good place to drink.


The roads are paved now. Rarely are the wagon trains attacked by Injuns.


You can see 15 different Montanas in about 6 hours of driving.

Hammerdown and Ed M, I will be in that area and the next few weeks and would appreciate getting the name of the outfitter if possible. Thank you in advance.



mike r

The Depot is Solid! As is Lolo Creek Steakhouse, and Tamarack Brewing.

I hear the jack saloon is worth the drive

I haven't been there in a few years now. It was good.

I just saw a lovely couple BBQing in the parking lot by the dumpster behind Target. They might have some left.

I won't ask what you were doing back there!

Yah, that's always the best...

Orange Street Food Farm for beer selection.

Same gender?

Liquor up front poker in the rear...

Linehan Outfitters. We had a sunny, rainy, calm, windy, fierce T-storm day today... Caught less fish but still had a great time.

https://fishmontana.com/

Oops, I should have specified. Scrawny guy and obese hag. Probably from Washington by the looks of them. Smiling like they had it made. Musta got some herbs....