Glacier National Park – Montana

I’m in the early stages of planning a bucket list trip with the wife to GNP in early fall, and definitely want to include some fly-fishing while out there, as well as on the way. We are both novices at this fly-fishing stuff, but plan to work on it between now and September, and get geared up. Also considering blast and cast options. If anyone has experiences and suggestions or recommendations for lodges, guides, or streams, I’d really like to hear them.
Thanks in advance.

BTW – I purchased a Lefty Kreh Temple Fork Outfitters fly rod through Reel Recovery, an organization dedicated to providing support to men with cancer through fly-fishing. Proceeds benefit the organization.
http://reelrecovery.org/

Free fishing in Glacier!!! We hiked in and fished. Unreal. Cast after cast fish after fish. My kids caught fish at a very young age on there own. I used spin casting gear with water bobbers and dry flys with silicone. Red and gold spinners are unstoppable out there per my Uncle Joe who has lived in Montana for 45 years. Yup Uncle Joe knows what he is talking about. I envy you, hope you are capable of hiking to the back country were you will find unbelievable wilderness trout fishing.

Ok. Did a little quick research. We parked at Bowman Lake. We hiked to Lower Quartz Lake. I fished the river leading out of the lake while the kids and wife fished off the bridge that crossed over to our camp site. I found some nice pockets with amazing fishing. Towards dark the lake lights up with boiling trout also. What a park! You can get permits for camping at the park in advance and they rate the hikes so you can find the right hike for you. It was a tougher hike in for us but doable. Good Luck.

Thanks bigpike – just the kind of info I was hoping to learn!

Another thing to be aware of is bears. They were a problem when we went out and I am sure they are a problem now. Get the spray and plan on bells for walking through the woods. We personally had no issue though we did see them, they crashed a few campsites up the trail from us and ended up closing those campsites after the fact. You will need to be very careful with your food packing and food in general. Just look into this and be prepared. The park makes you watch a movie on this if you go into a permit camping area. They are very strict in enforcement of how you camp.

bigpike wrote:

Another thing to be aware of is bears.
They are very strict in enforcement of how you camp.

And yet every week there are people there with no common sense or understanding that this is wildlife.

Our family had a great time there and I’ll rank this as well above yellowstone. Just be prepared and aware of your surrounding while hiking or fishing. We had a couple bear stroll past us and it was a oh crap moment. Just came out of nowhere and very quiet.

A good assortment of stoneflies did us very well

Many of their campsites can fill up by mid-morning (late July). People travelling must be staying at nearby motels to get into the park by mid-morning to secure a campsite. Their web site will post the time of day the campsites filled up the previous day.

I have done very well in that park before as well as the surrounding areas. What time of year are you thinking of going so I can suggest some particular flies you will want with you? I am from Wyoming and fish high altitude lakes and streams year round so I have a good idea of what works and when.

The first week of September.
The mention of bears has me wondering about the legality of carrying a weapon in a National Park(?). Anybody know?

http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/management/lawsandpolicies.htm

Early September should be good fishing! It is still early enough to get some top water action although it will be starting to taper off by then. Always try to match the hatch but some good flies to always have around in that time of year are: Small wooly buggers, your favorite stone fly imitations, elk hair cadis, a variety of hoppers, zebra midges, prince nymphs, flash back pheasant tail nymphs, hares ear nymphs, copper johns, and muddler minnows. If there are hoppers on the banks I tend to throw hopper droppers with a prince nymph under it to start with. That combination has landed me thousands of fish over the years. Then start changing things up till you find what works. The options that I have provided here have always served me well that time of year and you shouldn’t have a problem catching some.

Good luck!

Is there a lead tackle ban like in Yellowstone?

Read this:
http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/fishing.htm

“The use of all lead associated with fishing is prohibited within Glacier National Park. This includes weights, lures, jigs, line, etc. The only exception is a fisherman who is using a “down-rigger” may use cannon ball lead weights of 2 pounds or larger on the down-rigger cable.”

Beautiful country…. stopped in for 3 days on way back from Alaska.

Pete

This was a terrific trip with stunning scenery, and I highly recommend it. The fishing and weather, not so much, at least for a couple of newbies – but we gave it our all. Stopped at a couple local fly shops for area intell, and purchased some recommended flies as well as some extra gear. We were on the west side of GNP, heading out from Whitefish and Columbia Falls. Both shops recommended, for wading, heading up to the North Fork of the Flathead River, or later to the Middle Fork. And as others have mentioned, the bear threat is real. We carried bear spray at all times. Fortunately we never encountered one, but did see some-what I thought-were lion as well as wolf tracks on the shore where we were fishing. We encountered rain, hail, and some lightening, and particularly slippery moss covered rocks; we threw everything in the flybox at them with no luck. The local guide trips available mostly all do float trips, but we wanted to figure it out on our own, and wade fish. I give my wife a LOT of credit for her effort on these excursions into the back country. One remote trail to a particular spot seemed a little “too beary” to us, and we actually backtracked out.
Thanks again to everyone for the advice given earlier.

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Glad you were able to make it there. Sure is one of the most beautiful parks in our country