Montana Outdoor Podcast

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale talks to a couple fellas that are new to the Podcast from Trout On The Fly, Fly Fishing Outfitters based out of Bozeman. You will meet Nate Sevane the owner of Trout On The Fly and his Lead Ice Fishing Guide Matt Hoff. They tell Rigger about ice fishing on Georgetown and Canyon Ferry lakes plus two other lakes that...

Send us Fan Mail Downrigger Dale talks with Don Wilkins one of the most in demand fishing guides in America! You will learn all kinds of ice fishing tips and tricks. Don also gives some awesome safety tips and you will hear about how Don sets up his tip ups, the kind of rods and reels he recommends as well as jigs that can catch monster lakers and King Salmon through the ice! There is much more as...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger went behind the scenes of the Fort Peck Hatchery to find out how a King Salmon can go from a tiny egg to one of the most sought after and hardest fighting fish in Montana’s largest body of water. This Podcast is destined to be a classic so we thought we would call this one “Rigger and the Salmon Factory”! Yes, we are ta...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger start a new series that will preview the most popular ice fishing areas in Montana with top ice fishing professionals. To kick it all off Rigger brings on the top fishing guide in Northwest Montana as well as one of the top guides in the State if not the Country. Captain Matt McComb with Fish On Charters. Matt puts on a...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast Downrigger Dale turned over the reins to his buddy Roger Fishwell to do the hosting duties. Ol’ Rigger needed to take a little time off. If you listen or watch the podcast on a regular basis you will recognize Roger he is the one you hear or see introduce Rigger on the podcast every week. Rog also works in our research department as well as...

Send us Fan Mail You know it’s true! If you love to fish for Walleye, you just have to pass that 30 plus inch benchmark and until you do things just never feel complete, right? This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale talks to Ken Ault and his girlfriend and fishing partner Amy McComas about Ken’s seemingly never ending quest to get his 30 plus incher! This podcast is A L...

Send us Fan Mail Get ready everyone! This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale got a hold of the Executive Director of the Montana State Parks Foundation Megan Buecking and asked her if she knew anything about the rumors that some of Montana’s Ghost Towns are actually haunted. Not only did she know about that, but she is a bit of an expert on the topic and took poor ole Ri...

Send us Fan Mail Oh boy this is a "good un" as Rigger likes to say! This week your host Downrigger Dale talks with Wildlife Manager Cory Loecker from Region 4 in north central Montana. In this podcast Rigger and Cory will give you all kinds of great info on where to find the game you are looking in Region 4. Some of you may not know this but Region 4 has all 10 of the big game species yo...

Send us Fan Mail This week your host Downrigger Dale talks with Wildlife Manager Brett Dorak from Region 7 in Southeast Montana. Did you know that Region 7 is the largest hunting Region in Montana? So literally there is lots to cover in this Podcast. Rigger had a great conversation with Brett and in fact, Brett also threw out a few surprises that you just must hear. Here is a little hint; wait and...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast Your host Downrigger Dale continues his annual Montana Regional Hunt Preview Series to bring you the latest on how the hunting will be in each of the 7 hunting regions across Montana. This week your Rigger talks to Region 3 Wildlife Manager, Warren Hansen and  Communication and Education Manager, Morgan Jacobsen and boy did they have lots t...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale continues his annual Montana Regional Hunt Preview Series to bring you the latest on how the hunting will be in each of the 7 hunting regions across Montana. This week Rigger talks with Wildlife Manager Matt Ladd in Region 5 located in south central Montana. Rigger and Matt take a deep dive into everything south ce...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast we are doing something for the first time ever! We are doing a Montana Outdoor Podcast Double Feature! That’s right, you will be able to watch  two different podcasts this week. This half of our double feature (the one you are looking at now)  has your host Downrigger Dale talking to FWP Region 1 Wildlife Manager Neil Anderson about what th...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast we are doing something for the first time ever! We are doing a Montana Outdoor Podcast Double Feature! That’s right, you will be able to watch and or listen to two different podcasts this week. This half of of our Double Feature is all about Region 2, located in the central part of Western Montana. Rigger heads to Missoula to talk to MT FWP...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale starts his annual series of Hunt Preview Podcasts. That’s when he talks to Wildlife Managers and other folks with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks to find out what the hunting will be like in each of the 7 hunting Regions across Montana. In this first podcast in the series Rigger talks with Scott Thompson, Wildlife...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your Host Downrigger Dale had a great discussion with Greg Lemon, the Head of Communication and Education for the FWP. The main topic they covered was hunting land access. Most all the research on this topic has centered around two main areas, how do we get more land access and how do we keep the access we currently have. The number one rea...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale was on a quest to answer a question that not only he has been pondering but so have several other podcast viewers and listeners. Can someone who has never fished in any Mack Days Lake Trout Fishing Tournaments on Flathead Lake, make a decent amount of money fishing their first Mack Days tournament? Rigger got a hol...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale talks to angler Audie Stein about is frightening brush with death in one of the fiercest windstorms Fort Peck Montana has seen in a very long time. It was the evening of August 7th and Billings resident Audie Stein was camping on his lot that he had purchased near Fort Peck. He had towed his 40-foot travel trailer...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale had a great conversation with Ross Tate who is also known by anglers on Flathead Lake as the Whitefish Whisperer. Click here to watch or listen here and you will understand that Ross is called that for a good reason. There are very few folks out there that know more about how to catch the Lake Whitefish in Flathead...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has another great conversation with FWP, Game Management Bureau Chief, Brian Wakeling, this time about Montana's Elk Shoulder Seasons. These seasons are already underway in several hunting districts and will go on and off through February 15th, 2026. Just that statement right there is confusing. Thus, there ar...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has a fascinating discussion with Katie Vivian, FWP Region 4 Fisheries Manager. Katie is very intelligent, especially when it comes to the fish in Tiber Reservoir, which is also her personal favorite place to fish.  Tiber can be challenging to get it to give up its HUGE Walleye and other species. When you watch thi...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor podcast your host Downrigger Dale has an amazing conversation with two of the preeminent wildlife biology researchers in the Country! They are located right here in Montana ln the University of Montana Wildlife Biology program. This is one of the highest ranked wildlife biology schools in the Country, if not the world. Rigger talked with Dr. Chad B...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale continues his no holds barred discussion with Tom Opre the Director of the amazing new documentary film called The Real Yellowstone. In Part Two of the Podcast about the film Tom gives more previews into of this truly groundbreaking film. Again, this is not about Kevin Costner's character in the popular TV...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has a fascinating conversation with award winning documentary director Tom Opre. Tom has created amazing films like Killing the Shepard and The Last Keeper . Now he focuses his camera on Montana's farmers, ranchers, wildlife and hunters with his latest film called The Real Yellowstone . Of course, most everyon...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale talks about something that has been patrolling much of Montana's Waterways for many years but many of you may not even know about it. No, it is not part of the Montana FWP but works with them quite often. It is actually part of the Department of Homeland Security and more specifically part of the United States...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale takes over the podcast studios and gets us all caught up on the latest outdoor news, Statewide fishing reports and peek at the future topics he will be covering on upcoming podcasts. He thought it would be nice to let the rest of the podcast staff take the 4th of July weekend off, but we are thinking that maybe he...