FishTales Outfitting

The Ruby is sold here as walk and wade water, and the outfitter makes a virtue of it: no boat ramps means no boats rowing through your water. The upper freestone section is pocket water and the lower section a tailwater below Ruby Reservoir, and the riffle and corner pool character suits a classic upstream dry fly approach, with rainbows near the dam, browns lower down, abundant hatches of pale morning duns, yellow sallies and caddis, and hopper fishing for large browns through late summer. The Jefferson flows north and east for seventy seven miles before joining the Madison and Gallatin at Three Forks, lends itself to the drift boat, and fishes over caddis, pale morning duns, yellow sallies, brown drakes, summer stones and hoppers, with stripped and swum streamers doing much of the heavy work.