Missouri River Fly Fishing - Montana

What:   Missouri River Fly Fishing
Where: Holter Dam Tailwaters
When:  Sept 3-4, 2012
Who:    Zito Brothers - Nate, John, Leonard
Why:    World famous dry fly fishing!

Last year Nate and John had an incredible trip to the "Mighty Mo"... catching several wild rainbows and brown trout on dry fly's! This years "Zito Brother" trip would include 2-3 days on the Missouri...courtesy of Nate's boat, rowing power, and hotel scheduling...and a bit of fly guiding!

Craig Montana...population 43. 1 bar, 1 restaurant, 4 Fly Shops...my kind of town!

Mountain sheep at the Holter Dam


Gonna be a great morning! Tryco hatch below Holter Dam


Z&Z Asphalt truck...putting the boat in the water. (work hard play hard)

John prepping the boat


Nate spent the majority of his time on the river tying our fly's, un-tangling our knots, and rowing all over the river...Thanks Nate!!


I probably caught 1 fish out of every 10 that I had hit my fly...pretty sad. It was a bit windy and these trout required much more experience to catch than in the high mountain lakes I usually fish.

 Water 1-2 miles below the dam was very fishy...

 Pelican Point...literally. John was going to get out to do the "traditional wildlife chase..." but he seems to be getting a bit more mature now that he is over 30.

 My brief attempt at rowing...didn't last long due to a rare condition my brothers quickly diagnosed... I contracted it 5-10 minutes into the effort...symptoms were sweating, elevated heart rate, and rapid breathing. Only cure was rest.


John caught the largest trout of the 2 days.

 Scouting for fishy areas...

 Nate cooking up some outstanding Hamburgers...right on the river! Thanks again Brother!

Looking down the river

Summary: Weather was in the high 80's during the late morning/afternoon. Scenery was gorgeous...was great to spend some good times with my brothers...laughing and goofing off. Fishing was great 1-2 miles below the dam...after that it was really slow to non-existant. Had a great time with Nate and John...