The first time I hooked up with a really large fish on the Bighorn I was chest high in my waders bobbing down stream after him trying to keep up before he blew past my backing. This was in the early 1990’s and the river had just re-opened after years of closure by the Crow Indians and the fishing was absolutely nuts. Back then it was our secret, today it is everybody’s secret. So, you ask, where are some of the other great places that aren’t as well discovered? Here are a few in south central Montana near Red Lodge, Montana, one of the best Montana real estate secrets left. In fact it is one of the very best mountain real estate and vacation properties left anywhere in the country.

Two years ago we moved to Red Lodge, Montana to pursue a Montana real estate development called The Spires at Red Lodge because Red Lodge real estate is still some of the best priced resort real estate anywhere in the entire Rocky Mountain region.

Really going in to great detail and giving you the stories that go with each of these streams isn’t possible in a short article. As my fishing buddy Randy says, “If I told you everything then I’d have to kill you.”

Let’s get on with the fishing. Our little smorgasbord begins right in the middle of town, it’s a walk to fishing trip; no windshield time whatsoever. Rock Creek is a free stone stream and all of the standard stuff works because these fish don’t get worked very hard at all. Go north of town and the fish size increases.

“Where The Hell Is Roscoe?” is a slogan on a t-shirt at The Grizzly Bar just 15 miles west of Red Lodge. Just the drive out there takes you past some of the finest Montana real estate available. Several miles south of The Grizzly you cross over East Rosebud Creek. This stream has been know to produce an occassional 20 inch plus fish, so don’t be surprized if you get one. Buggers in the deep holes or little dries and small nymphs in the slow stuff.

If you are in really good shape and want to catch some huge lake bound cutthroat then you can hot foot hike out of East Rosebud Canyon up to a lake known as Arch Lake. Of all of the dozens of lakes in the million acre Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness this is perhaps the finest and with the largest average size of trout. Of course this is a 2,500 vertical foot hike straight up out of the East Rosebud valley so it is not for the faint of heart and you are scrambling on large boulders and scree fields a lot.

Take 78 west for another 14 miles past Roscoe and you arrive in Absarokee. Go west out of Absarokee along the Stillwater River. It is best to fish it from a raft and pullover to fish the runs, but you can do alright wading from bridge areas as well. It is great grasshopper and terrestrial fishing in late July and all of August. In the spring and fall it’s back to streamers and nymphs. This river gets a lot less pressure than the western Montana streams.

Another good lake in April and May is Newton down in Cody, Wyoming. I’ve caught some 5 pound plus browns and bows in here on little size 18 and 20 drys. It is a blast. If they are rising try a parachute adams. If not try a leech or a bugger stripped nice and slow.

Another incredible spring time lake is Newton down in Cody, Wyoming; of course you will need a Wyoming fishing license but there are some very big rainbow and brown trout in this lake just two miles north of Cody.

A lot of the high mountain lake stuff always has the word exercise attached to it. Of course you can fish lakes right along the highway at over 9,000 feet but since everybody and their dog can access these lakes then they are nearly as good as the lakes that are tough to access. That is what makes Glacier Lake so great. It is a 5mile dirt road off Highway 212 to get to a parking area. From there it is about a one hour hike up to the lake, which at 9,681 feet is often not even free of ice until mid-July. For the fortunate few who time it right there are some real big fish waiting. Go as deep as you can and retrieve slowly.

You really can’t beat the uncrowded experience that goes with Montana fishing. For skiing, biking, hiking, rafting, golfing, bird hunting, golf, and tons of other recreation it is tough to beat Red Lodge. This is why a few years back we decided to make a significant investment in Red Lodge Montana real estate. They just don’t make it like this anymore and the world keeps growing.

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