The big horn has been red hot this week. Since we kept getting mixed reports, we decided to get out there ourselves and get the real scoop. Robert, Jimmy, and George floated 3 to 13 and were on the water by 6:00am. They caught several fish on tricos and trico spinners which was nice to hear. They saw some sporadic baetis through out the day but absolutely slayed them on hoppers!
Are the tricos on the Bighorn finally making a comeback? We certainly hope so! It's been years since we've fished through thick morning trico hatches on the Horn. Hopefully the tricos are here to stay, but at this point it is hard to say.
Can't be on the water by 6:00? Try nymphing in the morning with tiny black or red midge larva. If you start to see some baetis on the water, use one of Harrop's Baetis short wing emergers as your lead fly, and a red midge larva dropper. Unless you have some decent cloud cover, you most likely won't see many risers. If you don't see any baetis, I'd stick with the midge larva. Just about every big fish in the river has either seen or been caught on a pink sow bug or San Juan Worm. I've actually seen fish move away from these flies, so if you're going for the big one try something a little more incognito...
As the photos below show, fish are definitely now eating hoppers!
Recommended Tackle for dries and nymphs:
490 Z-axis, G.Loomis 9'#4 Streamdance Presentation, or Winston BIIX 5 weight. Ross Evolution 2, Lamson Litespeed 2 Scientific Angler's Trout taper line or Rio Selective Trout.
Recommended Flies:
#18 pink sow bug
#20 Grey Ray Charles
#18-20 Bighorn Sow Bug
#20-22 Red Midge Larva
#18 -20 thin Olive drake nymph
#18-20 Black Zebra Midges
#18-20 Burgundy Zebra Midges
#20-22 Trico Thorax Dun (House of Harrop)
#22-24 Trico Spinner (House of Harrop)
#18-20 Sawyer Style cocktail (tied by Dave Student)
#20-22 Midge Emerger (tied by House of Harrop)
#20-22 Hanging Midge (tied by House of Harrop)
#8 Black or Maroon beadhead mini leech
#4 Sheila Sculpin
#4 JJ Special
#2 Yellow and Brown Flu Shot
#6-10 Grand Hopper
#6-10 Chubby Chernobyl
#6-8 Tan Stalcup Hopper
#8-10 Carnage Hopper
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