Have you been there??? Fishing , camping ??

walleye,

I have a brother who has been in Montana for the past 20+ years. He is an active hiker and frequents many Montana Parks. We have gone hiking together in Glacier and Yellowstone. Awesome Big Sky country out there.

He lived in Bozeman for many years and now lives in Billings. He is not an avid fisherman like you Walllee but is a pretty good hiker. He has told me stories about being stalked by a mountain lion while riding a horse up in the mountains. He carries pepper spray, and an industrial strength tazer that has to be specially ordered. Heck, he even has a pistol with him most times for protection when hiking.

I believe he has gone to western Montana and visited the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area if I am not mistaken. I will call him tomorrow and shoot you a line about his feedback.

Sounds like a great rugged and scenic area.

Sorry Walllee ... I opened my post calling you "walleye" ... LOL.

I am heading to Sturgeon next week and I have catching "walleye" on the brain right now.

Yep, been there.

Fished the forks of the flathead river. It's good!!!!!!!!
The Bob is true wilderness for sure. Quite a bit of forest fire damage in there though. Friend of mine lives in Missoula, he states that a lot of the problem grizzlies from Glacier and Yellowstone are re-released into the Bob. There is ample camping in there but the road in some areas can be rough.

I would go back for sure.

Thanks for the info guys.

I grew up in Missoula, one time i was on a hunting trip in the bob Marshall with friends, my buddy hit an elk and came back to get us to help him pack it out. By the time we got to the elk it was ALMOST dark, 3 of us held up the elk head while a 4th took the picture. Wasn't until we got home and looked at the pictures on the computer we'd realized a mountain lion face watching us from 15 feet behind in the grass. BWCA is one thing but the animals out there WILL kill you if unprepared. As far as the fishing goes, it's overkill to go to the bob marshall for trout fishing. You can catch much bigger fish, car fishing on any one of the dozen blue ribbon rivers, it's Montana... Just pull off anywhere and fish. Camp out of your car and see much more than the Bob. Nobody out there bothers wth the bob unless 1) you love riding pack mules into places 2) you're going hunting or 3) someone's taking you who's doing either of those 2.

My recommendation? Fly rod + the bighole, camp out at Twin Lakes in that area one of the nights and try for the Montana Grand Slam (Brown trout, cutthroat, brook and Grayling!)

There's great fishing in there, but i can think of a million places I'd rather fish in Montana. Rock creek, the Bitterroot, Clark Fork or Missouri, find a guide to take you on a couple drift boat trips down your pick of river, you'll have way more fun with that then the bob in my opinion.

Backpacked AREA MANY YEARS AGO - AROUND 2000 - LOVE THE AREA and did well on trout - good friend is a State Trooper in area and acted as my personal guide - we were not purest - caught all our trout with a small hook #6, single split shoot, hand half a crawler. Might not be the preferred method but it sure worked well.

jswamp,

My small hook and a split shot and a worm setup has consitently outfished the purist "fly fisherman" for brown trout on the feeder streams in NE Iowa that flow into the Misissippi River. I have caught 20+ inch brown trout in NE Iowa on many Sunday afternoons and my brother says that is the nuts as Montana average size can be quite a bit smaller in Big Sky Country.

Reagardless, Montana is an awsesome place and I intend to go there more ofetn when I retire ina few years.

Iowa Brown Trout

Great info ....

Wallie
Bob Marshall is great for hunting and remote backpacking. Bears are real and they are not the overgrown coons we have in the BWCA. Not to be scared of, but need to be respected. As far as fishing, there way better places in MT than the Bob. Be aware that most if not all MT rivers are blown out right now and many will not be really fishable until August. Many headwaters are still above 100% snowpack. I was in a storm a week ago on Monday that dumped 5 inches in Cooke City.

The Bob is a huge wilderness and has a lot to offer but much better with pack animals. The nice part is that you can tie the Bob into a Glaicer trip as well.

Kyle