Dan Bailey's is the source for information and gear for your next outdoor experience. We share our passion for wild places by helping you experience them. We work to get more butts on bikes, more feet in ski and hiking boots, and more fly rods in hands. We believe everyone should have the chance to feel reverence for wild places and get dirty outside.
Founded in 1938 by a physics professor who left NYC to start a fly shop in Livingston, Montana, we see ourselves as stewards of Dan Bailey’s legacy and the rivers he helped protect. Our staff members have made similar commitments to place, forgoing careers in academia, the sciences, optometry and others to work at Dan Bailey’s. In 2020, we merged Timber Trails, Livingston’s outdoor company founded on a passion for wild places and giving back to the community, with Dan Bailey’s. More than just a fly shop, Dan Bailey’s carries the best brands on the market in activewear clothing, hats, sunglasses, footwear, maps and guidebooks, backpacks, sleeping bags and camping supplies, bikes, skis, snowshoes and related gear. We work hard to source our products from local creators and companies that value sustainability and conservation. See our Products page for more information. Dan Bailey’s offers custom boot fitting with one of the best boot fitters in the industry, and rents bikes, skis, snowshoes and fly rods. We offer top-of-the-line, conservation-based fly fishing and interpretive guide services and designate a portion of the fee from our guiding services for conservation of the Greater Yellowstone Watershed. See our Services page for more information. As Dan Bailey wished, we hope to assure future generations will have a riffle for their flies, a trout for their efforts, and flowing rivers for their souls.
Since 1938 we've been outfitting fly fishers for their favorite waters. Whether it's equipment or information, we can help your next fishing trip be a memorable one.
Timber Trails + Dan Bailey's Fly Shop = more to love!
Timber Trails is honored and excited to expand our outdoor store and role as a recreation information hub as we merge with the legendary Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop at 209 West Park Street. First off: fear not - the iconic fish sculptures outside the building and wall fish are staying. Timber Trails is bringing our community, conservation, and service ethics, as well as our outdoor gear and repair services, to the iconic fly shop as we build on Dan Bailey’s legacy. We’ll add fishing gear rentals to the array of fishing supplies, waders, flies, fishing license sales, access to fishing guide and education services, and fishing conditions information that Bailey’s has long been known for. Eventually you’ll be able to shop for Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop goods online again, too.
Dan Bailey’s has been a fly fishing mecca for nearly a century and will remain an historic touchstone well into the future while offering enhanced and updated services and goods, and the friendly, dependable service Timber Trails is known for. The goal is to open early summer as soon as we can offer customers a seamless shopping experience and robust services. You can follow our progress on social media.
We are in the process of upgrading the large fly shop space to include more shopping areas, a boot and bike fitting room, the bike and ski repair shop, and – spoiler alert – there will be a pass- through door from Dan Bailey’s to Gil’s Goods looking all the way through to the classic framed fly, photo and signature “Bar Flies” on the East wall of the Murray. All Timber Trails’ merchandise from the best brands in the business will be moved to Dan Bailey’s Fly Shop and there will be room to expand our selection. We will still be your source for free information about where to hike, bike, ski, and now fly fish in the area too, plus the opportunity to rent the gear to get you outside.
As many know, Dan Bailey’s fly shop first opened in 1938 and has been a cornerstone in Livingston’s multi-generational and multi-million dollar fly fishing industry, including John Bailey’s role as fly fishing advisor on the 1992 film “A River Runs Through It,” which starred Robert Redford and Brad Pitt and was filmed largely in the Livingston region. “It’s a legacy name and it’s foundational, not only to Livingston, but the greater fly fishing community,” said Sexton who has purchased the enterprise with business partner and fellow fly fisherman Mark Gurley, in an interview with the Livingston Enterprise. “We’re hoping to grow that moving forward.”
Sexton, who will run the newly combined businesses, worked at Dan Bailey’s fly shop as a high school senior. After college he returned to work in the store for years, eventually working his way up to Vice President of Sales, before leaving to start Timber Trails in 1996. Timber Trails has become the go-to outdoor store for top notch outdoor wear, gear, bikes, skis, snow shoes, and even skateboards, as well as offering bike and ski rentals and repair. We also invest heavily in local charities and causes, especially those protecting public lands and outdoor recreation. Sexton says combining the two businesses will build on these values, “It’s also about our involvement in the conservation community; advocating for clean, free-flowing rivers and lands and our access to those resources. Selling stuff, while important and essential, has never been our emphasis.”
Sexton is also investing in and partnering with his employees, family, and the Livingston community. “This is as much about, and for, my employees, my family and the Livingston community, as it is about me,” he said. Growing and combining two iconic recreation businesses during the coronavirus pandemic is no small feat, but preserving and strengthening hometown assets - and legends – is just what we need at this time.
