My dad brother and I do a fishing trip every year and after a few good years up at Rainy lake MN doing warm water stuff we are going to give it a go chasing trout out West.

Dad and brother are new to fly fishing and I've been in about a year now.

Looking for good area to go and or spots to hit on the way out on our route.

Any recommendations/guides/places to stay would be appreciated.

I need to sit down and start planning but I'd like to see Bozeman as the trip end point or just head that direction and see where it takes us

I stopped by Cody, WY last year when I was in Red Lodge, MT for my buddies wedding. Was a lot of fun and a neat old western town. Im from PA so the difference in topography was just mind blowing to me.

There are a lot of places for you to fish. One I would look closely at is Dillon, MT. Get a guide to fish the Beaverhead and or the Big Hole. Then fish Poindexter Slough on your own. Good times...

Just went up through MT, up through Glacier, down through Yellowstone, and all through WY. My brother (who is on here) lives in Laramie.

Stop by Dan Bailey's (fairly historic) fly shop in Livingston, beside Bozeman. If you go up the Yellowstone or Gallatin rivers, among others, away from Yellowstone park you'll have plenty of places, although this time of year they probably have plenty of guides and drift boats out there. Seasoned guide and former shop owner in Cody works at Dan Bailey's and recommended fishing the North Fork Shoshone (out the east gate of Yellowstone) was one of the better places up that way. Everywhere in the park will probably be fished pretty hard.

It was really hot out when we were up there, so if it cools down it should be much better fishing. Outside of that, a lot of mountain streams up out of the way are great for tons of bookies.

Hope that helps some.

Wyoming:
Laramie plains lakes for big trout, and the Beaver ponds up in the Pole Mountain area for brook. Both are close off the Interstate I-80 if you're passing through.

You could stop in here to get more info on local areas to fish. http://www.flystore.net

east of Billings below yellowtail res.and dam. Float guides or do it yourself shore fishing. It was catch and release fishing last I went.Yrs ago.

Some big trout and plentiful. limited runs down the river daily, plan ahead.

Here are some pics from today. Not big trout by any means, but still fun to catch.

Little pond up in Pole Mountain area.


And some of the little Brook Trout we caught. The winner as for which fly worked the best, went to the BH Hares Ear Nymph. All of them were caught using this fly. Wife was using spinning gear and a bobber and fly. I was using my fly rods.

Go to Jackson, WY.  Get a fishing license, head north.

Stop at the trout hatchery just outside of town.  If you have a Wyoming license you can fish their stocked pond.  It is stocked with (IIRC) Westslope Cutthroat trout and many are quite sizable.  Once you get the kinks out of your new fishing buddies head further north.

Stay in the Grand Tetons at Colter Bay Village in a tent cabin.

Go to the Flagg Ranch and take the road in.  Stop at the first bridge over Polecat Creek.  The creek is shallow but you will see monster rainbows lurking under the bridge in the shade.  Harass the fish with your new fishing buddies.

Go further north and get a Yellowstone fishing license.  If it is early enough try the Firehole River (you should anyway as geysers and trout?! Too awesome!).  If later in the season head north for the Madison and Gallatin rivers.

Try going West towards the West Entrance.  The road parallels the Madison river.  Try fishing directly across from Mount Haynes.  There is a pullout from the road you can park at.  The river goes through several bends and find a spot where the far bank is undercut.

There are some lurkers in there!

For lunch go to Dairy Queen in West Yellowstone and shop for flies.

Use Colter Bay as a relatively inexpensive home base.

ETA: use ice racing screws on your wading boots.  The rivers are strong and you can get in trouble easily in the current.  Ice racing screws are cheap and you can do all your boots for the price of one set of studs from a boot manufacturer.