Guided Trout Spey Trips
Trout Spey is quickly becoming one of our favorite techniques to fish during the shoulder and winter seasons. Combining our world-class trout fisheries with the enjoyment and rhythm of Spey casting yields one thrilling fly fishing experience at a time of year when you might otherwise not be on the water. It gets you out there.
Whether you’re a committed steelheader looking to tune up your casting in the off season or a die hard trout angler looking to expand your horizons, Trout Spey is a great way to fish on our local rivers. With the advent of the lighter spey rods we are finding more and more anglers seeking the solitude of our Montana rivers during the less pressured part of the year. We have a few spey casting specialist guides on staff who are eager and willing to share their knowledge of the technique with those new and curious about the spey world as well as experts who want to experience our local rivers or improve their casting techniques.
MISSOURI RIVER
The Missouri River is arguably one of the best Trout Spey rivers in the world. With long, broad runs and an abundant population of small steelhead sized trout, this river lends itself nicely to swinging flies with a two-handed rod.
SEASON/TECHNIQUE
Trout Spey trips are certainly possible year round, but October through the end of April is prime season; our favorite time of the year is early March through the end of April (which corresponds nicely with our Spring Special rate season) and then again in the fall from October until December. The best fishing coincides with our typical streamer fishing season, in the late winter or early spring when the water temperatures are increasing and in the fall when big brown trout are on the move.
During this time we prefer to fish with either a Scandi or Skagit shooting head and cast smaller spey or switch rods ranging from 3wt. to 6wt. that are 10 to 13 feet in length. We typically fish with lighter sink tips for ease of casting and work our way down runs in the usual cast, swing, and step fashion. Although swinging smaller weighted streamers is often the norm, we have done it all from large articulated flies to small soft hackles on a floating line in the summer.
Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of Trout Spey is experimenting with different retrieval techniques. Unlike traditional steelheading where a simple swing is standard, trout fishing often requires imparting some type of action on the fly which is what makes this style of fishing often very effective and fun.
If you love trout fishing, or spey fishing for big salmonoids, then Trout Spey may be the next thing for you.
