Montana

The blue-ribbon trout water below Holter Dam — 35 miles of tailwater from Wolf Creek through Craig and Cascade with 4,000-5,000 trout per mile, year-round fishing, and the West's most reliable midge and Trico hatches.

The Yellowtail Dam tailwater — 13 miles of fly fishing gold from the Afterbay to Two Leggins. 3,000-5,000 trout per mile, year-round consistent flows, and the West's most reliable sow bug and PMD fishery.

The 'Last Best River' — 153 miles of classic Montana freestone from the Beaverhead Mountains through Wisdom, Wise River, and Glen to its confluence with the Beaverhead at Twin Bridges. Home to the lower 48's only fluvial Arctic grayling population.

The Gallatin runs through Yellowstone NP and the Gallatin Canyon along Highway 191 — wadeable freestone water for rainbows, browns, cutthroat, and whitefish, with a strong salmon fly hatch in late June and excellent post-runoff dry-fly fishing into October.

The 'Fifty Mile Riffle' below Quake Lake is Montana's most famous wade-and-float water for wild rainbows and browns, with a strong salmon fly hatch in late June and consistent dry fly fishing into October.

The longest undammed river in the lower 48 — 692 miles from headwaters inside Yellowstone NP through Paradise Valley to its confluence with the Missouri in North Dakota. The trout water runs roughly from Gardiner through Livingston and Big Timber, with the post-runoff salmon fly hatch in late June and consistent dry-fly fishing through October.

Western Montana's home water — 84 miles of cottonwood-bottomed valley fishing for wild rainbows, browns, and native westslope cutthroat. Famous for the March-April Skwala stonefly hatch and a long dry-fly season from spring through October.