Fly Fishing Vacations

When fly fishing is on your mind, you need to start planning specifically for a fly fishing vacation - not just a vacation with maybe some fly fishing in it. If you're looking to completely immerse yourself in your love of fishing, as well as to see some of the most beautiful locales in the world, you need to do more than rent a boat and head out onto the water – you need to go where the pros go.

Here, for example, are just a few of our favorite fly flishing vacation spots . . .

Alaska

One of the most sought after fly fishing vacations is fly fishing in Alaska. The pristine waters of this fishing haven offer a bounty of catches: Rainbow trout, Sockeye salmon, Silver salmon, King salmon and Pink salmon. And under the light of a sun that never sets during certain times of the year, you can extend your fishing time as long as you desire.

Montana

A Montana fly fishing vacation with its many well known rivers is one of the best destinations. With unrivaled scenery and a flyfishing way of life that treats its waterways as the national treasures they are a Montana flyfishing vacation is a must in any lifetime.

With the backdrop of Yellowstone National Park or the many different regions: Glacier National Park, Northwest, West, Rocky Mountain Front, Upper Missouri River, Southwest, and Yellowstone River, you can experience all of Montana's world class rivers that each have great fishing sites as well as plentiful large trout.

Montana takes its flyfishing seriously with all the trappings like great lodges to stay along with seasoned guides to enjoy year after year.

I still remember my first fly fishing trip to Montana. I got lucky and the guide I used invited me to stay with his family and his three young sons in his home in Bozeman. I stayed an extra week and helped him build his second drift boat. I'll always remember his hospitality, fly fishing knowledge, and the gourmet lunch he served one day on the Madison River along with a bottle of wine.

Jim Adams, thanks for a great intro into a Montana fly fishing vacation and I will always remember you and your family.

Colorado

Close to Montana is the opportunity for fly fishing in Colorado. This state has many gold medal rivers and streams – The Frying Pan and The Roaring Fork near Aspen. The North and South Platte River, the Arkansas, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, and the list goes on. You can finally catch the wild trout that you've been dreaming of.

Colorado offers a diverse number of settings as well as nearby vacation destinations, if you're looking for something to do outside of your boat. The Colorado River out of the Winter Park Ski town is a great example of a great flyfishing trip with extra activities for the family. I have been going there for years and it is always consistantly good fisihing.

My friend Paul who lives in Boulder even catches fish on the rare occasion he puts on a set of waders and meets me at my favorite spot. If he can catch fish you'll have a great day on the river. You'll always have a great time with an old friend. Did I say he was old? Poetic liscense.

If you want to have a great fly fishing vacation and need to provide for the rest of your family other activities this is a good state to choose.

Utah

And who can forget about fly fishing in Utah? Below the Flaming Gorge Dam is the Green River. Best fishing is by boat with a guide although there is a trail for hikers. This is a stocked river and large rainbow and huge german browns are in great abundance here. We always grab our favorite guide, Lyle, who is the best there is on the Green. He can handle a double hook up with ease and he knows where the best spots are and what they're hungry for.

You can definitely find that trophy trout of tall tales in the waters of Utah.

Instead of heading out to the closest river or lake and trying your hand at the ordinary catches of the season, why not head to somewhere that even the professionals like to vacation? These locales have the gear that you need, the resources that you can't find elsewhere, and the waters that you crave to dip into.

Idaho

Anyone truly wanting a great flyfishing vacation river experience will want to include a trip down the Snake River in Eastern Idaho. The South Fork of the Snake to be precise. This streatch of river is set in a spectacular valley that takes your breath away and the guided fisihing is some of the best. Huge cutthroat trout are the staple of this river. They attack huge dry flies with a vengence and the fight is spectacular.

This has truly always been one of my favorite times on the water. Fishing friends Charlie, Mike and myself usually camp alongside an estuary of the river and tell fish tales over a few beers after a great day catching huge copper brown cutthroats on Cherynobel Ants. There is also a beautiful new lodge and restaurant for those that like to be well fed.

With fly fishing vacations, you can stop dreaming about that big catch and start bragging about it.