June 22 Bighorn River Report

 

Bighorn River flows are just above 10K.  This is obviously not what was expected, but runoff came late this year and with the Corps of Engineers taking over operation of the Yellowtail dam, it’s hard saying what their next move will be.  The good news is our runoff is subsiding and we don’t expect flows to stay up at current levels for too long (maybe a couple weeks max).  There is some debris in the water below 3 Mile but the river is still rolling clear.

Now, to the most important part – the fishing.  It has been great! Increased water temps have spread the fish out and really got them on the feed!  Our guides have been reporting really good numbers of fish to the net this past week.  The Bighorn fishes awesome in higher water, so don’t let that deter you from making a trip down here right now!

The Shiner Minnows have slowly been making their way into the river and a handful of the fish are taking note of them.  The Streamer fishing overall has been really solid and should only continue to get better!  Any minnow-type patterns are good choices right now.

Nymphing has been the mainstay of our guides’ success out there.  Big Carpet Bugs, Rays and Softhackles (12,14) have been very consistent and the worm fishing on the lower river has really picked up!  A lot of fish are showing up on the faster shelves as well.

We’re getting closer and closer to summer and hatches to come.  We’re looking to have dropping flows in early July and get our first dry fly windows of the Summer with the start of Black Caddis.  We’ll keep you posted…