Glacier Outdoor Center Blog

Don’t let the rain and the swollen rivers crush your fishing dreams!  Glacier Outdoor Center in West Glacier has the perfect solution.  We’re happy to announce our first-ever certified fly-casting instruction and competition— the Glacier Anglers Cast-Off 2011! This event is set for June 11th at GOC and we couldn’t (and you shouldn’t) be more excited! We’ve got a lot of big plans for this day. 

We teamed up with several local shops, product reps and Great Northern Brewing for this.  Glacier Anglers Cast-Off 2011 is a FREE event full of casting instruction, fishing seminars and a chance to qualify for the All Cast National Fly Casting Championships. It is also open for all ages and ability levels.

Starting at 10:00 a.m. at Glacier Outdoor Center’s Ridgetop Retreat, several seminars will be held on a variety of topics led by pros from Montana Fly Co and the Glacier Angler staff.

Here are the classes:

Beyond Bugs: Fly selection and river ecology

Trout Hunting: Reading water and putting your fly where the fish are

From Nets to Knots: Choosing the right equipment and tying it all together

Participants will then get on-site casting instruction at Glacier Outdoor Center’s four stocked fishing ponds. The free All Cast certified qualifier casting competition will begin at 2:00 pm and is open for all ages. The competition includes tests in accuracy and distance and is divided into three groups; Masters, Open and Youth (14 and under). Each participant in each category will receive a day permit for another All Cass event nationwide. Winners of each class in each category will win a season pass to all All Cast events nationwide plus other top fishing prizes.  All Cast is a nationwide fly-casting tour organization offering competitors a chance to win cash prizes for casting.

The seminars and competition are FREE–with donations accepted for the Flathead Chapter of Trout Unlimited.  It is going to be a great time with food and beverage vendors on site for the day. Montana Coffee Traders, Great Northern Brewery and other food vendors will be selling delicious fuel.

For more information please call 1-800-235-6781 or email info@glacierraftco.com.

After a winter (and an ENTIRE spring) of powder days and headlines about La Nina here in Northwest Montana, we are ready for fun summer days on our rafts or along the shore with fly rod in hand. But snow that piles up must melt and flow down.  Reports show that the snowpack water content levels for the Flathead River basin are currently 200% of average. That’s some heavy H20!  We’re so excited to have plenty of water for a full summer of river adventures, including whitewater river rafting, fly fishing, wilderness camping and scenic floating.

Our friends at Quadrocopter took an FRV Hexakopter out for some video flights following the snowmelt east from the Continental Divide. There are some amazing shots of the Flathead River’s Middle Fork and South Fork converging.

The video is just a taste of how beautiful this area is. Book your river trip today.

On the Mo, baby!  Glacier Anglers guides Marc Evans, Stevo Lund and Ryan Thompson squeezed in some fishing on the Missouri River on their way home from the Simms Ice Out.  Can you blame them? After a weekend at the Simms Ice Out, who wouldn’t be excited to get out on a river? Thank you Craig, Montana. You delivered the goods.  And by goods, we mean, lots of good, gorgeous fish.  Enough that we were able to bring you Motown’s Greatest Hits.

And Marc may or may not have channeled Marvin Gaye.

And the Missouri wasn’t the only river they hit on this road trip.  Here are some pics from the Gallatin, too!

Don’t forget, these river soul men can take you rollin’ on a river this summer– book your fly fishing trip today.

The fishing on the Flathead River system continues to be spectacular.  Marc & Karsten spent the afternoon fishing the Middle Fork this past weekend and landed a few great fish.  No 36 inch bull trout like last week, but they certainly got into some fine early spring cutties.

Don’t miss the window and be sure to get up here and get your pre-runoff fishing in.  Chances are, the spring flow is going to be high long into June.

Check out this video of Marc on the Middle Fork near Moccasin Creek.

There is a window of time after ice-out and before runoff when the rivers in Glacier Country are fishing really well.  The window is open now…and if you know where to go and how to hit it, the Middle Fork of the Flathead is delivering better than a FedEx man on rocket boosters.

In the past week, guides Steve and Marc, along with Trout TV host Rich Birdsell got into what we in the biz call “real nice fish.”

This is the real deal–a 15-pound bull trout caught on a size 12 prince nymph.  Good thing Steve-o has been working out–otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to hold this beast for a proper grin-n-grip photo.

Lift with your legs, Steve.

This thing could eat a dog. But it chose a size 12 prince instead.

Of course there are a lot more fish in the river.  And the fellas found them.

Come fishing with us!  And don’t worry about missing the window–just call us and we’ll tell you about some fishing options available even during runoff.   Don’t let our guides hog all the fun.

This is huge, folks! We have partnered with Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air’s “Explore National Parks” program to offer 20%-off flights to and from Glacier National Park Internatinal (FCA) airport in Kalispell, MT. You read right, TWENTY PERCENT OFF!

Call your friends, call  your family, or, if you don’t live here, book your flight now because it’s time to visit Montana!  Just for example, a round-trip flight from Los Angeles to FCA during the first week of June was UNDER $300 with this promotion.  This is only offered as part of the Explore National Parks program that we’ve partnered with, so you can’t find it on the airlines’ website.    Instead, visit Glacier Raft Company’s Specials and Promotions page for the discount code and link to the booking page. You’d better hurry because the tickets must be booked by May 1st for travel dates between May 1st to June 30th, 2011.

To sweeten the whole shebang even greater, Glacier Raft Company is offering 2-for-1 half-day whitewater raft trips. You need to mention that you are traveling with Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air when you book your raft trip, and bring your boarding passes when you check in for your float. This deal is good for raft trips between May 15th and September 15th, 2011 and works for flights into and out of Kalispell, Great Falls, Helena Bozeman, Billings, Calgary, AB or Spokane, WA.

We’ve got the goods, so come and get ya some!

See you when you get here.  And locals, call everyone you know and tell them that the time for that Glacier getaway is now.

We’re taking customers on our first fishing trip of the season tomorrow.  Guides Marc and Stevo will be headed out on the Middle Fork from West Glacier to Blankenship Bridge.  There’s about three feet of visibility right now, and as long as that water stays somewhat clear, we can take customers.  And it should be pretty good.  Take a look at the pics we took over the weekend on the Middle Fork.  Marc and Chris caught about a dozen solid cutties. 

When they set out, they didn’t know what to expect.  The water looked good, but not perfect.  But– TWELVE fish later the trip was obviously a success.
If you’re a local out on the river tomorrow, give us a nod.  And, if you’d like someone to row for ya, and help get you the best day possible, book a trip with one of our expert guides.  Don’t forget, you can buy flies and gear, including warm clothes, fly rods and reels in our full-service fly shop at Glacier Outdoor Center.

Fish on!

One of our fearless leaders, (and our oldest guide) Darwon, and superguide Marc, are heading up the booth at The Bighorn Outdoor Adventure Show today through the weekend.  The Big Horn Show is one of the oldest and longest continually operated sports and recreation shows in the United States

It’s going on at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center, and is a total drool-fest for folks who are checking out outdoor oriented vendors, guides and non-profit exhibitors. More than 300 exhibitors come from all over the lower 48 States and Alaska, Canada, Mexico, South America and Africa.   Approximately 28,000 people are expected to attend the four day event.

As you can see from the picture, Darwon and Marc have a pretty attractive display set up.  So with a great booth and their sparkling personalities, we’re sure that no one will be able to resist booking their summer adventures with Glacier Raft Company.

If you’re in the Spokane area, stop by and say “hi” to Darwon and Marc.  If you’re not in the area, book a trip online here and come visit us in West Glacier.

See you soon!

The Glacier Raft & Outdoor Center website is new and improved!  For all things adventure-related in Glacier territory look no further than www.glacierraftco.com.

We’ve updated our site to make it easier than ever to book an exciting rafting trip, stay in one of our cozy log cabins, get the latest Nordic ski snow reports or find the hottest trip deals with our E-newsletter.  You can also see live web cams from inside Glacier Park, watch a beautiful video showing what your next great adventure will look like, and learn about fly fishing trips, extended wilderness trips and family-friendly floating.  You can even purchase photos from your whitewater trip, sign up for Glacier River Schools classes, and get driving directions to our location here in West Glacier. Finally, be sure to click on our social media links at the bottom of the home page.

We hope you’ll consider our website your one-stop source for creating the best Glacier experience you can ask for.

Recently we helped pack in a few duckies to the Upper Middle Fork of the Flathead for our friends (former guides) at Outside Media and their friend, professional skier and Salomon athlete Cody Townsend.  Since we hold one of the coveted river permits for the upper sections of the river, we are well practiced at packing in gear and taking folks on multi-day, epic excursions in the Wilderness. So, a few of our mules and willing guides made the trip into Granite Cabin to see our friends off to a great trip.

Cody's new poster--signed!

As a thank you, Cody sent us this signed poster for the Glacier Outdoor Center and a few pics of their amazing trip! Glad to help out guys and thanks for the signed poster Cody!

Also, we shot some sweet video of Cody at Castle Lake! An epic day of fishing with beautiful weather, good company and plenty of Cutties!