FRED TELLEEN
GREAT FALLS, MT
The idea crystalized during a road
trip home from steelhead fishing on
a Columbia River Tributary last fall.
I love to spey cast and swing flies
for salmon, steelhead and trout. So
do all the guys I work with at North
40. 2014 marked my last season as
a full time Alaska guide. Now that
Montana is home, trout spey on the
Missouri River and other waters in
the northwest region are the major
focus of my angling year.
I first fished the Missouri River on
May 7th of 2007. I was driving from
Deadwood, S.D. to Cooper Landing,
Alaska to start my 19th Alaska
guiding season. In previous years,
I would stop and fish the Bighorn.
Then I’d drive right past the
Missouri, always thinking it looked
like a river worthy of investigation.
That year, I decided to try the
Missouri. My family and I moved to
Great Falls in late October.
It did not take long to figure out
that the Missouri River was a great
place to swing flies for trout. In the
winters, I would tinker with flies I
was developing for Alaska trout
swinging. I soon learned that winter
time is a fantastic time to swing for
trout on the Mo. Missouri River fish