In Montana, we love to use streamers for fall fly fishing. It’s one of our favorite ways to target big fish! In this season, the fish are aggressive and looking to gain calories before the winter sets in. On cloudy days, trout will chase down streamers with reckless abandon and crush them. This is also a surefire way to get into some of the biggest fish of the year. All you need is a 6-7 wt fly rod, sink tip fly line or sinking leader, persistence, and the right streamers for fall fly fishing. Here are Missoula’s top 5 streamers for fall fly fishing in no particular order.

1. Silvey’s Sculpin Leech
2. Satkowski’s Shake & Bake
3. Baby Gonga
4. Mini-Dungeon
5. Sparkle Minnow

1. Silvey’s Sculpin Leech

Hailing from the Deschutes River in central Oregon, the creator of this fall fly fishing streamer, Brian Silvey, knows a thing or two about fly fishing for trout. And this universal streamer fly pattern catches trout on rivers across the nation from the meandering tundra rivers of western Alaska to the high plains of Montana. With lead eyes and a bunny strip tail, this simple but durable streamer will catch fish all day but also hold up to abuse.

2. Satkowski’s Shake & Bake

The Shake & Bake is a killer articulated streamer with a new look. Tied on a jig hook to ride hook-up, the heavy dumbbell eyes on this streamer get it deep without snagging or sacrificing any movement. While this is a larger fly, it can be just what the big pre-spawn brown trout want on a cloudy, fall day. On the “swim-ability” scale, this one scores high…

3. Baby Gonga

This fly in olive, rainbow, and black has been one of our top producing streamers for fall fly fishing.  The small size and articulation give it great action that elicit some vicious strikes from the aggressive brown trout on local rivers. While it has lead eyes, you can fish it on a floating fly line or a sink tip to get it into the deeper water. Strip it, twitch, or swing it.

4. Galloup’s Micro Dungeon

Kelly Galloup, owner of Slide Inn and streamer guru, came up with the Sex Dungeon years ago and it’s caught some giant trout over the years.  When he came out with the mini-Dungeon, we all got excited. Sometimes big flies aren’t the way to go when it comes to getting fish to eat and this fly proves it.  It has a great sculpin profile and moves great in the water.

5. Sparkle Minnow

The Sparkle Minnow is one of those streamers you look at and think “no fish would ever eat that!”  It’s a super flashy bugger pattern that seems to always work on any river across western Montana. It’s a go-to streamer pattern for many anglers across the western United States.

Visit our Missoula fly shop for our in-store selection of streamers for fall fly fishing gear! Want to put these flies to use? Book a Missoula guided fly fishing trip and let the expert Missoula fly fishing guides hook you up on big fish