Bighorn River
Just returned from a 4 day trip to the legendary Bighorn River in Montana. After checking all the the reports and learning everything I could, I got the idea that I was in for some serious hatches and dry-fly action. But wouldn't you know, when we got there we learned that the river was 3 weeks behind schedule, and that there was NOTHING hatching. No yellow sallies, no PMD's, no caddis, not even enough baetis or midges to interest the trout. So instead, we had to get down and dirty with sows, scuds, and midges. We soon learned that EVERY fish in that river is big. In the entire trip, none of us caught a fish under 16 inches. The browns and bows in there AVERAGED 18 inches. Take your biggest fish in a day on the Provo and that is what every fish is like on the Bighorn. There is so much food in that river that the browns have the same football shape as the rainbows. It was really cool watching half a dozen 20+ inch browns and bows come right up to my feet to eat all of the junk I was kicking up. Ironically, the crowds were as big as the fish, and we were told that it was a "light" week. The only hard part was finding good nymphing water. Take the big flat on the Green above Little Hole and that is what most of the Bighorn is. With no hatches coming off, the only places good for nymphing were the deep riffles where fish congregated, and those were few and far between. Since most of the land around the Bighorn is private, the only way to fish is to float it. This was proably one of the best fishing tips I have ever had, and the shop guys said it was "slow" by Bighorn standards.
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08-05-2002, 12:58 AM
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