MT Fishing and Duck hunting

[Flatrock]

All right MT guys, I need some of your input. My wife and I will be moving from our current location in about 2 years and are seriously considering Montana. For my wife's job, we will have to move to a city of at least 30,000 so cities like Bozeman, Great Falls, Billings or Missoula would be some of the top choices.

Obviously for big game the state has tremendous opportunities. There is no debate on that. Growing up in ND though, fishing for walleyes and also duck hunting are 2 of my greatest passions. If we were to move there, I would spend more time hunting big game in the fall than I do now but would still want to do a fair amount of duck hunting. Soooo, for you guys in MT, how would you rate the duck hunting and walleye fishing? Obviously Fort Peck is a good place for walleyes but I'm not as sure about other smaller lakes and if there are very many other options. And for duck hunting, I've seen Nemont's ridiculous pictures of day after day shoots so I know that there are birds there in places. I'm just used to hunting small pothole sloughs whereas out there I'd assume that the birds are more commonly using big water.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Bulldog0156]

You aren't going to find a big city in montana that is close to really good duck hunting and walleye fishing in my opinion. Good duck hunting is easier to find than good walleye fishing. My opinion is that Billings would probably be your best bet.

 

[Big Fin]

If walleyes and a city over 30,000 are on your radar, you have three choices - Billings, Great Falls, and Helena, with Billings being your best choice.

I've caught many nice walleyes within an hour or two from all three of those cities.

Bozeman and Missoula are not on the walleye map. Mostly Spotted River Carp in those two towns.

 

[mtmiller]

If you are limited to cities over 30K, there are only 5 options. As suggested, Billings is good, but if it were me, Great Falls is more centrally located for a variety of fish and fowl.

 

[Big Sky]

With the choices you listed Great Falls would be your best choice for walleye and waterfowl. There is some rediculously good waterfowl hunting within an hour or less of Great Falls. You might have to up your game for geese as the area is overrun with them. Walleye fishing can be had within a couple hours North, South, and East of Great Falls. Plus there's also blue ribbon trout fishing just about any direction you go. Heck you can catch some really big trout right in the middle of town near the damn. Now with all that said, finding quality big game hunting within an hour of Great Falls will prove to be more challenging.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

I've lived in both Bozeman and Great Falls for quite a while - in my opinion, Great Falls would be a much better choice if you care about duck hunting - early season is ok down in Bozeman for Gadwall and Mallards on the river, but Great Falls just plain has more birds and more access for waterfowl hunting - you can head south or west of the town and get into huge numbers of birds. There's a lot more places to fish lakes up that direction as well. Either place is great for big game.

 

[Flatrock]

Ok thanks guys. I very much appreciate the input.