Hi families!
The Montana Road Trip Expedition is off to the races! After gathering everybody at the Bozeman airport, we hopped in the van and zipped down to our basecamp in Ennis. The 41 mile drive takes you southwest out of Bozeman and into the Madison Valley, the world famous Madison river flows through Ennis along with a number of other pristine trout streams making the fishing never far from camp. At basecamp, we had everybody get settled and situated with fishing licenses, gear, and prep for a great trip.
After a little prep we were able to take a few hours and head upstream in the valley and go fish the famous 3 Dollar Bridge with salmon flies to kick off the trip. With a few knot tying, casting, and entomology lessons we were ready to be set loose with the rods and reels and go slay some fish.
Everybody is excited for the next few days with salmon flies! On their way out, we hope to capitalize on aggressive fish eating big bugs. We have a great raft float planned for tomorrow, floating the walk and wade section of the upper Madison tomorrow. The following days we plan on exploring the Madison more as well as the Ruby River hoping to catch some of the smaller dries such as caddis and pmd hatches. After honing in our skills a little bit we plan on heading east to the Bighorn River in fort smith where we will camp near the battlefield of the Battle of the Bighorn. Here we will float and wade fish the number one rated trout fishery in the Lower 48.
Back at camp tonight, after some smash burgers and an ultimate frisbee game, we hiked up the hill and watched the sunset as Will (Lillard) gave us all a welcome orientation talk to close out our first day. We're PUMPED about the trip ahead - can't wait to get to know these guys and catch some great fish with them!
Until next time,
The MT RT Ex guide crew
