The Bighorn Experience
On our way down to fish the Bighorn River, Dad and I were talking; I've never actually been guided by someone in a drift boat for trout. One of our animal health suppliers, Zoetis Animal Health, set up the trip/meeting for us, and as far as business meetings go... I'll say yes to this kind every time.
When we arrived for the first night, Dad and I had already fished the river earlier that day and took out at 13 mile. So, we got our drift boat all packed up and got ready to find the lodge. We went about 7 feet and then realized that the lodge we were staying at was, literally, in the same parking lot. So, we pulled in and stepped inside. Brian and Dave were already in the lodge with rib appetizers from a couple of the best fly fishing lodge cooks I have ever come across to greet us at the door. We had duck fat potatoes, some kind of unreal sweet potato fries, in some kind of fancy sauce, with one of the best steaks I've ever had on a fishing trip.
I also found out the pond in front of the lodge is loaded with largemouth. Just FYI.
Want to check out the Bighorn River Lodge? Click here to learn more.
The next morning, we had an amazing breakfast and started getting rods ready for the day. I was fishing with Brian, and we met our guide Ron. Ron, who is also an assistant director of the Red Lodge Ski Patrol, has been guiding the Bighorn a long time. Meaning he knows what he’s doing. After launching the boat and seeing his fly boxes, I knew I was in for the Bighorn experience. Ron's boxes were filled with tiny tailwater patterns, small BWO Dries and Emergers, Zebras, Ray Charles and other tailwater scuttle. However, I also brought a bunch of new prototype flies from The Fly Project designs and Ron gave them the head nod to at least try them.
We fished the top three miles like many others do. Guides rowing in circles, watching bobbers and fisherman hooking brown trout nearly every pass. However, I was excited to get down river and experience the baetis hatch again.
Unfortunately, the BWO's weren't popping like they did the day before. We caught a couple on dries, but we really ended up getting a lesson on our nymph game. Nothing would work consistently. We would catch one fish on a baetis, then nothing. So, we'd switch to a crust nymph, we'd catch one and then nothing. Then we switched to a Mo Zebra, Tailwater Charlie, Zebra, Purple Zebra, Greenie Weenie, Red Headed Step Child, Green Machine, PT, Ray Charles, Fire Beads of all kinds, Soft Hackles... And nothing would consistently land us fish.
Wondering about a Fly? Check out the Flies here.
The fishing was a humbling experience on the Bighorn today. We caught fish, and in my opinion, it made me really appreciate each fish we caught more. I think I remember more individual fish today than any 30 fish day I've ever had. So was today's fishing worse than normal? I landed 2 fish on size 18 BWO olive dries. One a stud 18 inch brown trout and the other a 15 inch snakey brown. I also lost a really strong brown trout on a dry that I only got a glimpse of. Brian and I caught a handful of other rainbows, browns, and whitefish throughout the day... I snagged one big rainbow in the butt that bent my fiberglass rod in half. It was a great day on the Bighorn.
We got to the 13 mile takeout and walked the 100 foot walk to set our gear on the front steps.
If you're heading down to fish the Bighorn, make sure you stop by your local N40 Fly Shop or check us out online to stock up on all the gear you need.
And if you're heading down to the Bighorn to do some floating yourself check out our guide on put-in locations, float times and pull outs for many of the classic Bighorn floats.
Happy Fishing!