As I look at the calendar and another summer has come and gone, it’s a little hard to imagine that I’ve spent more than two decades pounding the banks of local rivers and streams. But as summer comes to a close and fall begins turning the leaves and brown trout those autumnal oranges, reds and yellows I’m left wishing that fall could last a lifetime. That way I could fit in all of the hunting, fishing and football watching that all seemingly coincide with too much work and not enough spare time… With all of the recreational opportunities in Montana in the fall, sometimes the toughest part is deciding what to do with a day off, over the years I have spent plenty of them on the river, and I don’t regret a single one of them. Fall for some is heading to the hills and pursuing hoofed and horned critters, fall for me is chasing monster brown trout on un-crowded waters.

If you’ve never spent an October day waist deep in the cool crisp waters of a Montana River searching for brown trout that seemingly mirror the fall foliage, then let’s just say you’ve been missing out. Fall can be one of the best times of the year to head to the water as tourists have headed back home for another year and many locals pick up rifles and bows and leave their rods and fishing gear in the garage till spring. This exodus of anglers leaves the perfect opportunity to enjoy the solitude and serenity of the big rivers that is absent during the busy summer months. Add in the possibility of larger than normal brown trout aggressively chasing streamers and you’ve got plenty of reasons to fish in the fall.

If you’re a gambler, you’ll love fall fishing. It’s like playing an old slot machine where instead of tossing in quarters, you’re tossing in chunks of feathers and fur hoping to hit 7’s — that elusive 30 inch 10 plus pound kipe jawed brown. If you’re going to play the slots in the fall, you’d better be prepared to spend a few days testing out your raingear, that’s oftentimes when some of the best fishing takes place. Save the bright sunny days for bird hunting, brown trout like to feed when there’s cloud cover.

I make no qualms about it, I’m a meat fisherman; that is I like to fish big old hunks of animal fur and hide that entice the appetites of big hungry fish. But during the fall if you’re an astute angler and keep an eye out, you can find some excellent dry fly fishing opportunities as the Blue Winged Olive hatches can be thick on the rainy overcast days. There’s really a little something for everyone on the river in the fall — nymph fishermen rejoice, you can still catch fish on a variety of nymph patterns if you so choose. Soft hackle swingers can find a place on the long slow riffles in the fall as well as rainbows and browns stack up and feed on all of the mayfly nymphs teeming in the waters. But in the end, if you’re going to fish in the months starting with O or N, you should probably invest in a meat stick, something capable of throwing a sinking line and a weighted streamer pattern. Because that’s what gets honored by the big fish gods more often than not — time, dedication and a sore arm.

Now if you get to the point where tossing streamers sounds like something that might be up your alley, you’ll want to do some self assessment, “Am I ready for failure?” is a question you’ll want to be able to answer in the affirmative. If you’re not ready to put a couple of zeroes up on the scoreboard, then you shouldn’t bother with streamer fishing in the fall because it’s inevitably going to happen at some point. That’s where having a camera and enjoying some scenery comes in handy, for the days where you have to have something other than the incredible fishing to appreciate. That’s where Montana makes it easy, if you can stop long enough to look around you, you’ll be treated to some of Nature’s finest work. The blaze oranges, deep rich plum reds and maize yellows that set the countryside afire are well worth the drive to a lot of fishing haunts.

The best opportunity to combine two of my favorite activities comes together only in the fall in Montana and that’s the quintessential outdoor sportsman’s pairing, the Cast & Blast. October is the perfect month to marry wing shooting and fly fishing as the ability to hunt ducks and big bruiser browns all in an afternoon becomes a reality. Certainly you can do it without one, but a drift boat is the perfect vehicle to toss in the hunting dog, friends and fly rods, beer and food, and shotguns and shells, it’s as if they were meant to be together… There’s nothing quite like floating down the river tossing streamers and tossing down the fly rod only to pick up the shotgun and assail an incoming flock of ducks or geese. This is another Montana activity to put on the bucket list if you’re an avid outdoorsman.

With so much to do in the fall around Montana, it’s easy to overlook the fishing opportunities in lieu of hunting, sports, family gatherings and other outdoor activities. But if you call yourself a fly fisherman, you’d be a fool to completely pass up some of the best days on the river in October and November. So be sure that as you sit down this fall planning out your list of things to do to include at least a few days of fishing in there, you won’t regret it.

Kris Kumlien is the General Manager at Montana Troutfitters and can be found rambling about anything to do with fishing at www.troutfitters.com