The Fly Shop800·669·3474

Included in your trip to Shields River Lodge are meals, lodging, guide service, rods, reels, flies, leaders, terminal tackle, and transportation to and from rivers, water, soft drinks, beer and wine served at dinner. Shields River Lodge guides carry with them all needed tackle and a complete selection of the necessary flies needed for the day. Guide service is one guide per each 2 anglers, unless otherwise specified in your reservation confirmation.

Not included in your Shields River Lodge angling package are gratuities, fishing licenses, hard liquor (though with advance notice the lodge can bring in a bottle of the requested spirits and mixer and have them ready for the guest), transportation to and from the Bozeman, Montana, airport and 8% Montana Sales Tax.

The Fly Shop® is not in the insurance business, but we recommend Travel Guard (AIG) and Global Rescue (IMG) coverage as a service with a desire to see your best interests protected. It is impossible to know when an unfortunate situation (loss of luggage, fly rods, illness in the family, or an accident) may occur. However, such things can and do happen, and this insurance can provide a means of recourse against non-refundable financial losses.

• Travel Insurance Information

Airport Shuttles
Shuttles can be arranged from BZN (Bozeman) airport to the lodge through private companies for an additional cost.

Luxury
Distinctive, tastefully decorated and well-appointed guest rooms with king size beds, comfortable seating area and desks to write postcards home about the day’s biggest catch! Relax and recharge in your spacious, well-stocked modern ensuite bathroom with soaking tubs and separate walk-in-showers. Enjoy a glass of wine, a local craft beer or a morning cup of coffee on your patio or window box seating overlooking expansive views of the Shields Valley, Absaroka Mountain Range and the Crazy Mountains.

Premier
Comfortable, tastefully decorated, well sized rooms with king size beds. After a day out on the river, enjoy a good book from your ample seating area, a hot shower in your ensuite bathroom or catch up on work or jot down notes from the day at your desk. Be ready to take on the day by greeting the sun from your balcony.

Traditional
Cozy, tastefully decorated rooms with king sized bed and ensuite bathrooms. Comfortable and cozy seating area, writing desks and everything you need to make your stay comfortable and unforgettable.

Dining
Executive Chef Donald MacArthur’s love of food began early while growing up on an organic farm in Pennsylvania where he learned that quality ingredients are the key to any meal that is meant to be truly remarkable. Working behind the fish counter at famed purveyor Dean and DeLuca led to a passion for cooking anything from the sea. Chef Don then attended New York’s acclaimed French Culinary Institute before honing his craft at Esca, New York’s venerable Italian seafood restaurant.

The call of the west proved too much to resist and Chef Don found himself sourcing not only the world’s best seafood but also meat and game as the Executive Chef at award winning restaurants in Montana and Colorado. At the Shields River Lodge, Chef Don leads an extraordinary team that continues to source the finest ingredients and prepares them with subtle nuance and expert technique. After a memorable day on the water, enjoy a locally brewed craft beer, a specially selected wine and a premium cigar to share the biggest fish tales of the day.

Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone is the longest free flowing river in the lower 48. It originates in Yellowstone National Park and flows north then northeast for almost 700 miles and offers almost 200 miles of prime wild trout habitat. The Yellowstone has so much to offer and is the classic Montana float experience. There are so many different floating options, you can fish the “Stone” for your entire stay and always fish a new section of river and each one is unique and different. One thing all these sections have in common is lots of trout, a variety of fishing, beautiful scenery and there is always a shot at a big trout. The Yellowstone fishes best from a boat floating big dries or throwing streamers but there are some opportunities to wade if this is what suits your fishing style. The upper river in the park and just outside the park is mostly cutthroat trout and as you move down river towards Livingston, browns and rainbows become the dominant trout you will be catching and the average size increases. Below Livingston, numbers on this section are lower, but this is where some really big brown trout are hooked and sometimes landed every season.

Madison River
The Madison is perhaps the most famous of Montana’s Rivers has been described as the prefect river to fly fish. It has everything you could possibly ask for in a river – wade or float, pocket water to classic riffle, run, pool, buckets, undercut banks, dry flies, streamer and nymphing; extraordinary variety…the Madison has it all. From its origin at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers in Yellowstone National Park if flows for almost 200 miles to connect with the Gallatin and Jefferson rivers to form the Missouri. Within that distance, the river shows a lot of different faces. Slow and meandering in the park, it flows into and out of Hebgen and Quake lakes just outside of the Park border. From here downstream is the classic 50 mile riffle and is one of the most popular sections of the river and for good reason, it is lovely to fish and the trout are plentiful. Below Ennis Lake, the river enters in Bear Trap Canyon and is pretty inaccessible except at the top and bottom of the canyon. There is some great pocket water fishing in this section but can be tricky to wade and is more often floated by whitewater rafts than fishing boats. Once the Madison emerges from the Canyon the flows slow down, and the river widens. This section is called the Lower Madison and offers some great float fishing as well as options to walk and wade. Trout numbers are lower than those above Ennis, and during mid-summer this section has a tendency to warm up, but it is also the place where you run into bruiser browns if you want to go after them. Throughout the river, fish average 12 - 15” and there is always bigger fish lurking around every bend.

Gallatin River
The Gallatin like its other famous Montana blue ribbon cousins begins its journey at Gallatin Lake in Yellowstone National Park and flows north for 115 miles before joining the Madison and Jefferson at Three Forks Montana to form the Missouri. It is a classic freestone river and the upper portion of its clear waters flow through very mountainous country with steep walls towering above the river. There are not many rivers prettier or more enjoyable to fish, then this upper section. This is where many of the scenes from A River Runs Through It were filmed and you understand why as there is a certain energy you feel while driving up the “canyon” along the river. Although not know for large fish there are plenty of them and it has some nice hatches and fishing attractor patterns produces effective results. If you like wade fishing in clear cold water with a beautiful backdrop of timber covered mountains, you will want to spend a day on the upper Gallatin. Below the canyon, the Gallatin’s gradient slows down and the river flattens out and starts to meander a little more. Fishing amongst the towering cottonwoods, the river braids into smaller, more fishable channels and the river exposes its rocky gravel bars. The fishing is similar to the canyon but there are some bigger fish that reside in this lower valley section.

A Typical Day @ Shields River Lodge
8:00 a.m. Breakfast is served in the Main Lodge
8:30 a.m. Meet with your Guide, pick up lunches off to the river.
9:30 a.m. Fishing
1:30 p.m. Riverside Lunch
5:30 p.m. Take out, return to the Lodge
7:00 p.m. Cocktails
7:30 p.m. Dinner is served

Full Fishing Days
Every day, each pair of fishermen will have the opportunity to experience a different fishery, or return to their favorite spot. Anglers will be targeting browns, rainbows, cutthroats and cut-bows. There are literally dozens of places to experience with Shields River Lodge, and Greg Bricker and his guides have their finger on the pulse of the best opportunities, taking into account hatches, weather, angler ability and fishing taste. In most cases you will formulate a plan in the evening after dinner for the next morning, but weather and other conditions could affect that plan.

Guides
Greg Bricker runs the fishing program at Shields River Lodge and we have complete faith he and his guide team will do their very best to make sure you have a great trip and will put you on fish each and every day. The guide team is passionate, experienced and they work hard day in and day out to create a memorable experience for you. With almost 30 years of experience fishing in the area and nearly 20 years guiding throughout Southcentral Montana, Greg’s familiarity of the area is second to none. He has an intimate knowledge of the rivers, hatches, seasons and he knows where to find the trout. Why do we have so much faith in Greg and his ability to run a solid fishing program? Well, he has been doing it for us at Patagonian BaseCamp one of our most popular Chile programs for over 10 years.