Links - Livingston Montana Fly Fishing Guides

The following links are organized by category. If there’s a link you think should be here, let me know. No commercial inquiries, please.

General Livingston, Montana, and Yellowstone Links

Protect Your Waters: information on cleaning and disinfecting wading gear to prevent the transport of aquatic hitchhikers.

Yellowstone Park’s Fishing Pages: Note that you must purchase YNP licenses in person. Boating regulations are also discussed on these pages.<
Purchase Montana Fishing Licenses Online
Montana Fishing & Boating Regulations: We are located in the Central District.
Montana Area and Waterbody Closures: These closures mostly occur during late summer due to high water temperatures or wildfires. Closures seldom impact the Yellowstone River or its tributaries, but are common on lower-elevation rivers further north and west, particularly those lacking deep-draw dams to cool the water.

Note that many local private fisheries (especially ranch lakes) lack websites and must be booked through a fly shop or outfitter.

Montana Streamflow Gauges: of particular note are the Upper Missouri and Upper Yellowstone drainages. E-mail us if you need to know how to read these tables. Generally speaking, sudden spikes mean dirty water. On the Yellowstone, flows over about 10,000cfs in May, June, or early July mean the spring runoff is underway and the river is and will be unfishable for a while. On the Missouri at Hauser or Holter Dam, flows over about 6,000cfs make fishing on foot nearly impossible, though you can always fish from a boat.
Montana Snowpack Information: Use this map (and the next) to keep track of winter snowpack, which is the primary driver of our water year. Higher-than-average snowpack generally means higher, colder streamflows in the core summer season (good), but can make for a long spring runoff on waters impacted by the spring melt (bad). Lower-than-average numbers mean an early start to the summer season (good) but low, challenging water levels and potentially warm water temperatures in mid-late summer (bad). Our drainage basins are the Upper Yellowstone, Gallatin, Madison, and Missouri Mainstem basins.
Wyoming Snowpack Information: River basins in Wyoming that impact our summer water (by flowing north into Montana) are the Yellowstone and Madison-Gallatin basins in the far northwest corner of the state.

Jack Uxa: My cousin, a conventional tackle guide on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks.
Curtis-Wright Outfitters: in Western NC. Ask for Josh.
Hopper Juan: Tyer and guide Juan Ramirez, in Colorado.