Big Hole Lodge, MT

Big Hole Lodge has been hosting guests since 1984 and is ideally located on the banks of the Wise River in a magnificent wilderness setting. Guests stay in spacious private cabins with modern conveniences, all opening to a panoramic view of the scenic Pioneer Mountains.

The lodge is a place to relax over a glass of wine and enjoy gourmet dining with good friends and family, and also provides the opportunity to meet new friends. To the fly fisher, the Big Hole River of Southwestern Montana needs no introduction. Anglers from the world over come to the Big Hole Lodge to try their luck at catching storied rainbow and brown trout along with brook trout, cutthroat, and grayling. Relax under Montana’s Big Sky as you fly fish on waters you always dreamed of fishing. Here we celebrate the elegance and precision of the cast. Your guide ties one of his secret patterns on your line, and you prepare to engage in a river dance amidst natures finest. The Big Hole River, nourished by a myriad of trout laden tributaries cascading down wilderness mountainsides, gathers itself in the high meadow hay fields near the treasured ranching community of Wisdom.

On a warm summer evening as a slight breeze interrupts a spinner fall in the Jones Pool, you might hear the distant cries of the great Nez Perce’ warrior named Rainbow, who fell at the Battle of the Big Hole fighting the U.S. Seventh Infantry. Early trappers, following on the heels of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, tagged the valley with its present name, the Big Hole. Although Capt. Meriwether Lewis originally named it the Wisdom River, local sentiment favored renaming it the Big Hole River. With its rich aquatic insect life and classic pool and riffle character, the Big Hole drains the Pintlar, Anaconda, and Pioneer mountain ranges and is considered one of the most scenic rivers in Montana. Feast your eyes on the beauty that encompasses her as you cast to a wild brown trout sipping mayflies in the foam line on the far bank. This is one river where patience with a dry fly will be richly rewarded. Unplug and allow the river to take you far from the stresses of the modern world. Feel the warm wind at your back and the cold, sparkling water tugging at your waders. As you glance up the pool that your guide has placed you in, you notice a rise in the shadows near the sunken log. It’s in front of you like a favorite painting. One cast with all the feeling and timing you can muster, and your trophy will be there to greet you with the subtlety of a morning sunrise. Please come and stay with us for a week- we’d love to have you!