The Black Hills area offers a wide range of fishing opportunities to the fly fisher. Most of our clients prefer to fish Black Hills streams such as Rapid, Spearfish, Spring, Box Elder and Castle Creeks. On the water the fly fisher can encounter brook, brown, and rainbow trout, with the most predomnant species throughout the hills being wild Brown Trout. The fishing is excellent year-round, although the best months are April through October.
Rapid Creek offers some of the best fishing in the area, and flows only a few blocks from our shop in Rapid City. While it may sound strange to only go a few miles from our shop in the morning, Rapid Creek on the edge of town supports a thriving poulation of wild brown trout, and can often offer some of the best fishing in the area depending on conditions. Rapid Creek further upstream has trickier fishing and pickier fish, but offers great scenery and chances at larger fish.
Spearfish Creek is another creek in the northern Black Hills that offers umatched scenery and good numbers of fish. Spearfish Canyon is a must see while you’re in the Black Hills, and Spearfish Creek in the canyon has excellent numbers of wild brown and rainbow trout. After leaving the canyon, Spearfish Creek flows through the town of Spearfish – excellent fishing can be found throughout the city, and there’s plenty of easy access.
There are several other smaller streams in the area that can offer great fishing depending on the conditions – Box Elder, Spring, and Castle Creeks can have some excellent fishing if the flows and conditions are right. There are a number of other small streams througout the Black Hills that have good numbers of smaller but eager browns and brookies as well.
The Hills have excellent hatches of caddis, mayflies and midges through out the spring and summer as well as fantastic “Hopper Hatches” during September and October. Some of our hatches include the black, tan, and olive caddis (Hair Wing Caddis), Baetis mayfly (Blue Wing Olive), Isoperla, Little Yellow Stones (Yellow Sallies). As the weather warms the fishing with terrestrials can be awesome; ants, beetles, and hoppers are the main types of flies used. Nymph fishing is typically the most productive method to catch numbers of fish, but in the summer we fish lots of hopper-dropper rigs, and there are good opportunities throughout the year to fish dry flies to rising fish.
Black Hills Guide Service
Our guides strive to make the day a memorable experience. They combine their years of knowledge with a positive attitude to help the client achieve their goals for the day. The guides will be happy to provide their services to any level of fly fisher; from novice to experienced anglers. No fishing experience is necessary to participate in a guided trip, in fact we think they are the best way to be introduced to fly fishing.
Black Hills Guided Fly Fishing Trip Pricing
1/2 Day Trip-
- One or Two Anglers……..$300
- Three or Four Anglers….$600
- Five or Six Anglers………..$900
Full Day Trip-
- One or Two Anglers……….$450
- Three or Four Anglers…..$900
- Five or Six Anglers………..$1350
* All trip prices are subject to 8% state sales tax
Guide Gratuity is Appreciated
**We Practice Catch and Release on all of our guided fishing trips**
**Felt Soled Wading shoes are banned in South Dakota. If bringing your own gear please remember to bring rubber soled boots. If you don’t have rubber soled boots you can use a pair of ours for your trip.**
Guided Trip Information
What We Provide
- Rods and waders are supplied if needed at no additional cost.
- Maximum Guide to Client Ratio is 1:2. Due to the small stream nature of our Black Hills streams, the best fishing experience is ensured with a maximum of 2 clients per guide.
What to Bring
- Valid fishing license- Purchase a fishing license online.
- Sunglasses
- Raingear
- Sunscreen
- Hat
- Lunch/Snacks for Full Day Trips
Nonresidents License Fees are:
- $16.00 for One Day
- $38.00 for Three Consecutive Days*
- $69.00 for an Annual License*
*3-Day and Annual Licenses require a $25 Habitat Stamp
Permitting
DAO Inc. operates under a special use permit on the Black Hills national Forest.
Cancellation Policy
A valid credit card # is required to book the trip and a deposit is required at the time of booking. Cancellations within 24 hrs. of the trip or “no shows” will result in a charge of 100% of the trip’s total cost. Cancellations within 2 weeks of the trip date will require a $100 cancellation fee. The cancellation fee can be credited towards a future trip. Cancellations due to special circumstances will be taken into consideration and fees may be waived.
How to Book a Trip
Or feel free to give us a call at the shop during store hours – 605-341-2450
Black Hills Fishing Reports
Contact us
Send an email to flyfish@rapidnet.com with questions or comments.
Or give us a call at the shop- 605-341-2450
Dakota Angler & Outfitter
1010 Jackson Blvd
Rapid City, SD 57702
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