Fishing Reports
3 reports total
Bighorn River - March 1st, 2010
- Recorded:
- 40 ° F
- Fishing: Good
Yesterday was a long awaited day of fishing for me. The river traffic was relatively low. I floated the 3 mile-Bighorn stretch of the Bighorn River, and saw 5-7 other boats. The water temp is cold, in the upper 30's. I saw the expected bug life, midges (occassionally in clusters), and a handful of baetis duns in the afternoon. I pumped some fish to find worms, sowbugs, and hundreds of tiny cream midges.
The nymphing I would decribe as O.K. We were able to catch some fish everywhere we tried, and on a wide variety of nymph patterns, but had to work fairly hard for them. I streamer fished my behind off to move just a few fish. The best part of the day for me was the midge fishing in the morning. I was able to get on a pod of eager fish, while throwing a simple midge single dry fly with a tuft of CDC pointing upwards (what's called the "Smokejumper"). It's easy to see, and seamed to be all I needed to catch the risers I could approach.
We had a good time, and enjoyed some sunshine and a nice variety of successful fishing.
The river's low. The flow is listed at 2,000 cfs, but looks even lower as the river bottom is so clean (no moss displacement).
Please note that the warm weather had caused some low level runoff, and muddy water existed below Mountain Pocket (below the Denver Club's cabin), and Soap Creek. It looked like you'd want to avoid fishing the right side of the river all together downstream of Soap Creek.
The nymphing I would decribe as O.K. We were able to catch some fish everywhere we tried, and on a wide variety of nymph patterns, but had to work fairly hard for them. I streamer fished my behind off to move just a few fish. The best part of the day for me was the midge fishing in the morning. I was able to get on a pod of eager fish, while throwing a simple midge single dry fly with a tuft of CDC pointing upwards (what's called the "Smokejumper"). It's easy to see, and seamed to be all I needed to catch the risers I could approach.
We had a good time, and enjoyed some sunshine and a nice variety of successful fishing.
The river's low. The flow is listed at 2,000 cfs, but looks even lower as the river bottom is so clean (no moss displacement).
Please note that the warm weather had caused some low level runoff, and muddy water existed below Mountain Pocket (below the Denver Club's cabin), and Soap Creek. It looked like you'd want to avoid fishing the right side of the river all together downstream of Soap Creek.
Bighorn River - January 8th, 2010
- Recorded:
-
- 20 ° F
- Fishing: Good
O.K., I'll admit it. I haven't been out fishing myself, so this is a second handed report. The river's looking clean, and very user friendly. The Brown's spawn is coming to an end, and fish seem to be more into eating midges than scuds. The water's cold enough so that you'll want to be out primarily in the middle of the day for the best fishing, then you're gonna get cold fast. They're still chasing the streamer, so that can be a nice diversion in between nymphing the holes.
I'll give a first handed report as soon as I finish hunting geese, and replenishing my supply of tying feathers.
I'll give a first handed report as soon as I finish hunting geese, and replenishing my supply of tying feathers.
Bighorn River - December 1st, 2009
- Recorded:
-
- 45 ° F
- Fishing: Good
The river fished well at times, but not as predictable as it can be for this time of year. I continue to pump worms, midges, and baetis out of the fish, but seem to see very limited rising due to the windy conditions. I'm seeing plenty of clean gravel, and most fish are sticking to the areas surrounding the spawning activity, but I'm not catching as many fish on scuds and soft hackles as you'd expect.
Streamer fishing was not as good as it has been, but still getting good action.
I'd rate the boat traffic as a 3