Bud Lilly: A Legend Among Fly Fishermen

Bud Lilly is among the country’s most famous living fly fishermen.

But few know that Lilly introduced the Mepps spinning lure to Montana anglers.

“That was back when spinning lures were just emerging in the U.S.,” says Lilly, 70. The Mitchell reel was the hottest thing and Lilly had read about a new French lure.

They were so new, Mepps didn’t even have distributors. But Lilly ordered two cards of lures. They sold for a buck.

“I went down to the Gallatin River to try it,” Lilly says. “I was amazed.”

When it comes to fishing, Lilly was there from the beginning. For 31 years he handed out the latest lures, flies and fishing advice from the Bud Lilly Trout Shop in West Yellowstone.

While he’s hung up his guiding license, he still acts as fishing director of his latest venture, the Bud Lilly Angler’s Retreat in Three Forks, Mont.

The small historic hotel in Three Forks - near where Montana’s famous Madison, Gallatin and Jefferson rivers join - was left to him by his mother after being in the family for 80 years.

The two-story hotel is part museum, part fishing lodge. Rooms furnished with antiques and collectibles costs $55 a day plus tax for a sleeping room with a bathroom down the hall. There are housekeeping suites.

The price includes fishing itineraries and angling information.

“I fished the whole area as a boy,” Lilly says. “Coming back here is a new phase in my fishing life.”

Lilly’s great grandmother, Granny Yates, was a wagon master who brought 13 wagon trains from Missouri to Montana and settled in Montana after her last trip.

His grandfather was a horse trader and auctioneer who cowboyed over on Montana’s Judith River country with famed western artist Charlie Russell.

Lilly jokes that he’s related to everyone in the Gallatin Valley - and just happens to know the rest. He’s not far from the truth. Lilly’s profession has made it possible for him to meet anglers from around the world and has given him celebrity status.

“I can stand in almost any airport and in due time I’ll find someone I know,” says Lilly.

His dad, a professional hunter, passed his love of the outdoors on to Bud at an early age and his two uncles were professional guides. By 10, Bud was fly fishing.

Lilly recalls one Boy Scout camp out in the Gallatin Canyon, back when the road was still gravel. “I caught the fish for the other Boy Scouts to eat,” he says. That was 1935.

After graduating from high school in the small Gallatin Valley town of Manhattan, Lilly got his pre-med degree at Montana State University. During World War II, he joined the Navy and spent a lot of time dreaming about moving to Alaska. After the Navy he went to college and taught math and science for 22 years in Montana.

In 1951, he went into the carwashing business in West Yellowstone, just outside the trout streams of Yellowstone National Park. When summer ended, he bought a small tackle shop in the small tourist town.

For the next 31 years, he owned and operated Bud Lilly’s Trout Shop, handing out fishing advice to thousands who traveled through the tiny tourist town. Lilly sold the shop a few years ago, but the new owners kept the name.

Little did he know that not only was he on the cutting edge of a growing sport called fly fishing, but he would become one of the pioneers.

“The shop was a fun part of my life,” Lilly recalls fondly. He spent hours talking fishing - the shop was open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week and Lilly often worked 12 to 14 hours a day.

Lilly was one of the first to offer fly fishing schools. His fishing catalog in 1969 was one of only four in the country. His daughter Annette was the first licensed woman fly fishing guide in Montana.