Bighorn River Fishing Update June 5

We’re finally heading in the right direction as far as water is concerned.  The river this past week got a lot lower than what was expected and definitely put some stress on the fish.  Good news is we’re up to 2250 CFS as of yesterday afternoon and the fish should have a few more spots to shift into.

There are still some good dry fly opportunities out there with Baetis and Midges.  The fish are requiring a bit of good presentation in these lower water conditions.  As far as patterns, the difference in size between an 18 and 20 can make a big difference.  We recommend erring on the size of small and sparse patterns right now like Improved Students, Smokejumpers, CDC Spinners and any other slender CDC style patterns.

The nymph bite is on in certain areas.  The dreaded moss is starting to be an issue below 3 Mile, but we’re seeing good numbers of fish. Same thing as the dries, the fish seem to like the smaller bugs right now.  We’ve had consistent success on Rootbeer Midges, Green Weenies, Zebras, LBF’s, Black Quills and MacGrubers.  Smaller Sowbugs (16-18) are a good thing to have in your arsenal as well.

We’re still seeing A LOT of big Rainbows on the spawning beds, which is a great sign for the Summer and rest of the season.  Once these guys are back in the system and on the feed, it will be game on!   These fish need some room to do their deal and there are fish elsewhere in the system that will give you their attention.  It just might take a bit more angling skill than beating on these fish in obvious spots right now.