Custom Trips for Eager Anglers
Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing is a small fly fishing guide service specializing in personalized trips on the Yellowstone River and other waters near Livingston and Bozeman, including Yellowstone Park. Because we’re a small operation, we’re flexible. Got something special you want to try? We’d love to accommodate. Clients of all experience levels are welcome.
E-mail or call to plan a guided trip or just to talk fishing.
Who We Are
Walter Wiese is our owner/outfitter. After running the guide service for a historic Montana fly shop in Gardiner since 2003, he opened Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing in 2014 to to run a leaner and more flexible operation. Becoming his own boss was a major side benefit. He guides almost half our trips personally and handles all of our bookings. When you call or e-mail, he’s who you’ll be talking to. Yeah, we’re a small operation. We like it that way.
There are many “corporate” guide services in Montana. That ain’t us. We cap operations at five parties daily to avoid overfishing our top spots and to preserve our standards of personalized service.
Our Specialties – Top Trips 365 Days a Year
We guide all sorts of waters for all sorts of fish. Here are some specialties that get our blood pumping, and ought to get yours pumping, too.
- Rowdy Raft Floats: Fast-paced dry fly fishing on whitewater stretches of the Yellowstone, Boulder, and Stillwater Rivers. Late June–September.
- Meat for Monsters: Big sculpin imitations and big fish on the Yellowstone. April & July–October.
- Off-the-Radar Blue-Lining: Small, pretty creeks and small, pretty trout in Yellowstone Park. No competition. June–August.
- Private Lake Pigs: Leech and dry fly fishing for trout averaging 16–20 inches, including some trophies. May–June & October
Our Motto - "Fish the Corners"
Yellowstone Country gets fished hard. Therefore we always seek to beat the crowds, both in terms of where we fish and how we fish. Thus our motto: “Fish the Corners.” What do we mean?
- We strive to fish uncrowded waters: we float less-famous rivers or less-traveled sections of famous rivers and wade-fish “blue lines.”
- We start earlier, fish later, and/or use uncommon tactics.
- Are you a “dry or die” angler? Let’s talk. We fish dries on most trips.
- We primarily use our own custom flies. Standard flies = standard results.
- We love oddball options: native trout in tiny trickles, Tenkara from the drift boat, and more. Let’s get goofy.
Our Flies - Designed and Tied for Yellowstone Country
Our flies are one of the keys to “Fishing the Corners.” Walter has been a commercial fly tier and fly designer since 2002 and has designed dozens of successful patterns. While some might be available in your local shop, the fish see far less of them than standard patterns. The fish are also less wary of them.
Want to check out some of these bugs? Enjoy our latest fly tying tutorial or YouTube Video or click the button below.
Our Clientele
We’ve fished with butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers—literally! That said, we’re better fits for certain clients than others.
Who should fish with us? Small groups and solo anglers, anglers who want to focus on improving their skills as well as catching fish, anglers interested in the history, geology, and animal life, and anglers who would rather work to shed competition even though that sometimes means smaller (but not fewer!) fish in rougher water or terrain.
If you are planning to fish the great trout rivers around the Livingston region Walter is your man. And if you do, tell him Bud and Dave say thanks!
Also, we had bad weather/water conditions on the scheduled day but were able to reschedule for another day on our trip, which made us very happy!
Overall, great day on the river. Would definitely recommend booking with him.
The whole experience was excellent from start to finish and made for a very memorable day. I would definitely book another trip with Yellowstone Country Fly FIshing.
Our Resources for Every Visitor
We want anglers visiting southwest Montana and Yellowstone Park to be prepared, whether they’re fishing with us or not.
From our detailed Montana fishing reports to our exhaustive trip planning and fisheries pages, this site is full of more info for DIY anglers than most guidebooks. As you absorb it all, we ask you to consider one thing: think about how much we hold back for our clients…