Bighorn fishing report 8/6 big horn fishing report

The Bighorn is seeing the best dry fly fishing they've had in years! Tie on a size #20 black CDC caddis and you've got the magic fly! The black caddis start around 1:00 and even though the hatch isn't thick until the afternoon, the fish are really start keying in on them early. In the morning, fish are all over midges and midge emergers. Get over there now! (You know when George says it, he means it).

This year the black caddis came 2-3 weeks early, (like every other hatch this year). The hatch doesn't really get going until the early afternoon, (about 1:00) and depending on the day, should last until you need a headlamp to tie on your fly. The fish were going bonkers and although we didn't catch many big fish, (over 20") it seemed like about one out of every third fish was 17 inches. The next few years should be awesome dry fly fishing for big trout!

As for the morning fishing, you can still expect to get some good dry fly fishing in. Take a look at this wad of midges below. Fish were taking these starting as early as 8:00 in the morning. Our favorite midge dry is one of René Harrop's hanging midge (shown right below the PMD). If you choose to drop a midge emerger behind this, you can really mop up some fish, although I often prefer fishing just one fly. Fishing one fly makes it easier to whip your fly dry and then lay it over the fish with better accuracy. Either way you'll have a lot more fun fishing this way than nymphing with a scud or worm...

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.

Need the perfect flies for a quick trip to the Horn? Give us a call and we'll set you up with everything you need, or just the essentials... 406-222-7130.