http://bigskyflyfishers.com/ Fishing Reports Feeds From Bigskyflyfishers.com en-us Sun, 5 Feb 2012 17:17:00 GMT http://www.bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports/rss UCMS http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#2987 Recorded:  50 ° F Fishing: Excellent

Had a great streamer fishing trip with Jamie and Jean in late October.  We floated the lower Bighorn for several days, commited to throwing streamers, and had too much success to change. 

River conditions are set up very well for good fishing.  At that time, the river was still in the process of cleaning itself, but by now the river is sparkling.  Can't wait to get back out there and experience the numbers of fish that can be caught on the Bighorn, that's pretty hard to match anywhere else.

I'll keep everyone up to date on the snowpack, and fish count as the numbers come available.

Tight Lines!

Jeremy



]]> Mon, 2 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#2987 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#2986 Recorded:  60 ° F Fishing: Excellent

O.K., so it's been a long time since I've updated one of these.  I fell into a little bit of the fall burnout, and found some pretty cool fishing that I wasn't ready to put out there.

Last October, I spent several days on the Missouri in Eastern Montana targeting big fish.  I want to say a big "thanks" to Matt Lindley, Brian Bross, Jay Hanson, Paul Kanning, and Scott Kanning for the indelible memories.  We didn't catch amazing numbers of fish, but had a great time, and caught some very memorable ones.

Tactics were pretty simple...dead drifting streamers.  Did a lot of wade fishing, and sight fishing.

That's all I'm going to say about it, but felt like I owed it to them to report something.

Tight Lines!

Jeremy



]]> Mon, 2 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#2986 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#2676 Recorded:  85 ° F Fishing: Good

Sorry about the lack of fishing reports.  Busy is good, though, right?

Let's get to it.  The flow is steadily dropping, and is reported to be at 5,400 cfs right now.  The plan is to drop to 5,000 cfs on Monday.  The river looks good, and the water is cooling down some with the drop in flow.

Hopper time!  There sure a lot of hoppers out there, but we've needed the grass away from the river to dry up, as well as harvest to come to completion to get the kind of days that everyone dreams of.  If you're lucky, you'll have a hot day with a brisk cross-wind, and you'll see those little buggers all over the water.

On a different note, I've been streamer fishing a lot in the mornings, and it's been fun the watch the hoppers on the bank panic every time the streamer splashes close enough to the edge.  Streamer fishing has been very good early, but not quite what it was in July.

Haven't nymphed all that much in the last few weeks, but when I have, I've been fishing a sowbug and a small light mayfly behind it (something that'll look like a pseudo nymph).

Hope that gets you up to date!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#2676 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1610 Recorded:  65 ° F Fishing: Good

I was back on the Bighorn yesterday, and had a lot of fun fishing with Brian.  I keep telling him we're going to struggle some day to catch the numbers we caught this Spring, but that river's always got my back.

We floated from 3 mile to Mallard's Landing (19 miles) because the flow is at 14,000 cfs.  Bighorn Lake is now full with 18,000 cfs coming in, so it's hard to imagine that the flow won't be forced higher, but it's a wait and see game.  They still have the emergency flood pool to fill.

Nymphing was good early with a gray Ray Charles, and a Fire Bead Soft Hackle.  When fishing slowed down, we switched to the double worm.  We fished chennille patterns of bright colors, and were pretty successful until we threw some streamers.

Streamer fishing was surprisingly good, and is something I'm planning to do more of next time I'm out.  I've been fishing Rainbow frey patterns, and have been happy with the results.

Catching a fair number of small fish, but mixing in some nice fish on nymphs, but you always seem to hook one fish a day that just kicks your butt. 

I'll keep you updated on the flow as we learn more.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1610 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1609 Recorded:  70 ° F Fishing: Good

Catching up with a Missouri River report.  Had another fun trip on the Missouri with Tracey, and her brother Norm.  Fishing always consists of multiple 20 inch fish per day, so it's hard to complain.  The overall fishing was more difficult than last year, but was certainly a lot of fun.

Of course the river's high, and will probably be for some time (like everything else out here).  The flow was 17,600 cfs when we arrived, but had gone up over 18,000, and was rumored to be on it's way to 22,000.  No dry fly fishing to be had, needless to say. 

We did do a little streamer fishing which was productive, and a nice way to mix it up from the nymphing.  The streamer pattern was a little rainbow frey that I've been working on.  On the nymphs, we were able to catch a few on PMD patterns each day (early), then caught most of our fish on worms (red and wine), and tan caddis pupae.

As always, a big thanks goes out to Headhunters fly shop in Craig, and we had a great time staying at the Missouri River Ranch.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy





]]> Mon, 27 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1609 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1450 Recorded:  70 ° F Fishing: Great

The sun is shining!  It's been a wet, cold Spring, but I can't help but feel like we've turned the corner into less of a soaker, and more of  a melter.

There is going to be lots of water all summer, as the Bureau of Rec stated that we have enough water to average 12,000 cfs on the Bighorn until July 31st.  Of course, we'll have a spike before that, then hopefully the water will begin to come down in the middle of July sometime. 

As of today, the flow should go up to 13,300 cfs and may climb higher (depending on how the snow pack comes off).

This high water is something to be aware of as only experienced rowers should be taking on the responsibility of handling the big water.

That said, the big water will quickly cleanse the river of the siltation that's occurred as a result of the Spring rains, and will clear things up soon.

Expect that the dry fly fishing is over until the water comes back down, but nymphing will continue to be very productive.  Expect that the "worm hatch" will take over the diet of the fish, replacing the midge and baetis portion, but sowbugs will remain an important part.

Don't forget about streamer fishing.  As the slack water (rearing habitat for young fish) disappears, you'll have predatory fish taking advantage of the fact that fish will be compressed into limited holding water until the water temp gets into the mid-50's.

Well, that's an overview of high water...be safe out there!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1450 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1430 Recorded:  50 ° F Fishing: Great


Oh, where to begin.  The Spring rains just won't stop, and the good folks at the Bureau of Rec have been busy adjusting the flows, trying not to wash out the I-90 bridge at Hardin.  Flows had gone from 8,000 cfs down to 3,500 (back up to 4,500 then back down to 3,500, again).  It was just communicated to me that the flows are on their way back up again, as it should reach 5,000 cfs by tomorrow morning.

Rotton Grass Creek had been over the road near St. Xavier, but has receeded to the point where the bridge is now passable.  It's only open to single lane traffic for now, though.

Fishing, for those who can get there has been excellent with good baetis hatches, and excellent streamer fishing!

It's going to be one heck of a high water year, as the lake has filled 13 feet since last Friday.  This water situation is something that I've never seen before, so let's hope the snow comes off slowly. 

Crazy times, but the fish don't care.  Good luck getting here, but the reward is waiting!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1430 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1360 Recorded:  40 ° F Fishing: Good

O.K., I've been working a lot, and haven't thought about posting a report in a little while, so I'll catch you up.

It's been running at 6,500 cfs for a couple of weeks, but I just got word that they're dropping it back down to 6,000 as they Bureau feels like they're approaching their stated goal of 25 ft. of room in the lake pre-runoff.  If we get a warm snap, of course this could be adjusted, but for now we're in better shape for handling the snow melt than in recent memory.

The downside:

Our usually reliable Spring Baetis hatch has been delayed, but on the days when a small spurt comes, it always seems to be windy anyway.

The upside:

Nymphing has been very good, and the river is thankfully fairly moss free.  It's pretty user friendly with all of the young fish, and clean drifts.  Streamer fishing has been fun, but just O.K.

As of the last few days, the Baetis have arrived, and (weather permitting) you should get some fish up in the little bit of slack water that's there.

Soap Creek has been flowing, keeping everyone on the upper river, but this little break (for the fish on the lower) is usually pretty good for the long haul of the season.

Boat traffic is high, but it always is in May.  Plenty of fish for everyone!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Wed, 4 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1360 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1287 Recorded:  40 ° F Fishing: Good

Had a nice trip over the past 3 days.  Had some good streamer fishing on the lower river (with Bighorn Bugger, and my "Dirty Red Bugger"), although it slowed down considerably yesterday afternoon as the storm came in. 

Also thought that 3-B nymphed well on Wednesday, using mostly pink soft hackles, and midge pupae.  Overall fish numbers were down a bit, but was a better day in terms of average size.

We're continuing to see midges every day, and a smattering of Baetis.  Calm weather is probably the major obstacle to good dry fly fishing, as we're getting rain/snow/wind more often than not.

The flow went up to 3,250 cfs on Monday, and are scheduled to go up to 3,750 cfs today.  It'll be interesting to see where this leads, as inflows continue to go up.

I'll keep you posted!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Fri, 8 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1287 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1263 Recorded:  33 ° F Fishing: Great

As far as the spring water situation is concerned, I thought it might be helpful to include today's statement to the "Friends of the Bighorn River" concerning the Bureau of Reclamation's operation plan.

"Friends,

With the lake elevation the sixth highest on record for this date,
ample snowpack and a wet inflow forecast, its no surprise this message
arrived a few minutes ago from Reclamation:

"Inflows to Bighorn Lake continue to exceed our projections.  To keep
on-track with reaching a reservoir elevation target of approximately
3614 feet by mid-May, releases to the Bighorn River will be increased
from 2,750 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 3,000 cfs later today."

Also, this Saturday, the Bighorn River Alliance will be holding a
river cleanup and would appreciate a few hours of your time. Plan on
meeting this Saturday morning at 9am at the Bighorn Trout Shop,
working the river for a few hours and fishing in the afternoon. The
Alliance will also be hosting a barbeque at the Bighorn River Lodge
(by Bighorn FAS) at 4pm and all cleanup helpers are invited.  It
should be great fun, and your participation is greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

-Doug"

That's Doug Haacke, #1 advocate for the Bighorn River.

NOTE- Current lake elevation is 3,621 ft. (18.6 ft. below full pool) so their goal is to 3,614 ft. in order to better handle runoff.  I think it's reasonable to expect that our flows will continue to go up to around 4,000 cfs in order to accommodate current inflows and reach their goal.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1263 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1262 Recorded:  40 ° F Fishing: Great

Yesterday marked the first trip of my 12th season, and was a great day to be out despite the weather.  I want to thank Brian for the trip, see you next Saturday!

Water temp is in the upper 30's still, and no real sign of baetis.  Had some midges hatching, but not a real aggressive dry fly bite.  I can tell that the dry fly fishing is on it's way soon, though.  Streamer fishing was slow, as well.  The flow was 2,750 cfs, but I just received word that we're going up to 3,000 cfs later today.  When I pumped fish, I found only small sowbugs and black midge pupae.

Nymphing was the story of the day.  I tied on a pink #14,a tan #16 soft hackle, and fished it all day.  I did start out with a #20 tan for a short period of time, but was quickly obvious going small was not necessary.  We only changed flies to put on fresh ones, otherwise.  Of course lots of our fish were of the smaller variety, but we were able to get some nice (18 plus inch fish) too.  Looks like a very healthy river, and a good year to come.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1262 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1229 Recorded:  50 ° F Fishing: Good

Had a nice day on Sunday.  Floated the river (3-B) with a couple of guides that I needed to get to know a little better.  We did a lot of streamer fishing (which I would say was just O.K. at times, but I've got a lot of streamers to test out). 

The flow was recently bumped up to 2,500 cfs, and is most likely to run a little higher throughout the spring.  With a little bit of warm weather, the inflows at 3,400 cfs already, and the low elevation runoff has muddied the lower river.  Soap Creek, Beauvais, and Woody are all blown out, but hopefully this clears quickly.

Nymphing was good, and I saw enough midges on the surface to show signs of a dry fly fishing day, but we had just enough wind to put that idea to rest.  Midges (black) and sowbugs (brownish) were in the fish that I pumped, and found no better pattern than a small soft hackle.  Water's cold (upper 30's), but the fish were active despite this, and we were finding fish in some pretty fast water for this time of year.

It was a busy day for March, but can't blame people for wanting to enjoy the weather, it's been a long, cold winter.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1229 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1158 Recorded:  41 ° F Fishing: Good

O.K., haven't put up a report in a while, but my friend Jeff Buszmann just did his first guide trip of the year.  So, here's his report:

"Fished 3 to B on Friday. The wind blew at our backs most of the day. We put on around 930, only ones in the parking lot! We started out nymphing with a sj, pink ray, and a rootbeer midge. First fish was in the snag, a nice 18 inch brown on the pink ray. BTW the 12 year old could cast better than at least half of clients. We caught another nice bow in the snag. The dad switched to streamers and caught a brown at the top of the duck blind channel. We should not have taken that channel as the flows right now are too low. Saw a few redds back there but no fish on them still. Caught another nice bow on the black conehead bugger across from crow beach. Stopped on the leeward side of the corrals for lunch. We picked up a few fish here and and there, mostly on the pink sowbug stuff. I pumped a few fish and saw lots of huge sowbugs (14). We stopped and wade fished the right side of 3 rivers and got into several fish, very soft takes and the smaller class of browns (8-10 inches). It was sunny from about 11am on which may have hurt the streamer fishing some. We streamer fished out and got off around dark, stuck one fish between little horn rapids and last chance. For a windy day with a high of 41 in Feb not bad."

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1158 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1038 Recorded:  60 ° F Fishing: Good

Had a nice trip with Jamie and Jean, thanks again for coming.

Fished the lower and upper sections, and would say the nymphing is better on the upper, and the streamer fishing better on the lower.  I wasn't seeing as many Pseudos, but started to see some fall Baetis on the lower.  Each day there were some rising fish, but we preferred to streamer fish right through, as the hatch periods often coincide with active feeding fish that'll chase a streamer too.

My fly selection included a worm, a Ray Charles, and a wondernymph tied in Pseudo colors.

I've been streamer fishing vanilla and white colored streamers tied in the Bugger or Aztec style.  When these aren't moving fish, I'll switch to Black.  I've been using a Black Zonker a lot.

At this point, it's probably equally grassy everywhere, you can't escape it by going to a particular section, you just have to deal with it.

The flow is at 2,350 cfs, so it's created a lot of soft, shallow riffles to fish.   The fish are pretty spread out, but every good looking piece of water is holding something. 

Browns are getting some color, and I'm seeing some clean gravel patches appear.  Might find a big one!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Mon, 1 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1038 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1002 Recorded:  80 ° F Fishing: Good

Had a good day on the Yellowstone yesterday, thanks to Roger and Caron.  It was a nice father daughter day.

Nymphing was slow early, but picked up as the day went on.  We were most successful with a small brown stonefly immitation with a prince nymph trailing. 

We didn't streamer fish for long, but weren't getting much action in the sunshine anyway.

Dry fly fishing was a lot of fun, and surprisingly productive with a beetle and a hopper.  Some Drakes were coming off, and a Parachute Adams would have worked, but we had good enough action to stick with what we were doing.  We caught quite a few mid-size and small fish, but mixed in some very nice ones, too.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy




]]> Mon, 4 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#1002 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#963 Recorded:  65 ° F Fishing: Fair

The flow is flat lined at 2,500 cfs, and probably will be for a while.  Yesterday was a nice, comfortable fall day, with a satisfactory amount of fish caught. 

We nymphed all day as the nice folks were just learning, but are having to fight the fall grass qute a bit.  When the flies are clean, we were able to do pretty well on a San Juan, and a little flash back PT.

Tricos are still coming off every day, and rising fish are available in the mornings (later in the day after the cold nights).  Pseudos are still around in the late afternoon, too, with a smattering of Black Caddis. 

Streamer fishing has been effective, too, with light brown or white being my preference.

River traffic is up, but that's typical for September.  It's just a nice time to be out.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy
 



]]> Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#963 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#851 Recorded:  65 ° F Fishing: Good

Well, we finally got that break from the heat that I thought I wanted, but wasn't ready for.  It rained pretty hard on us on Friday, but the nymphing, and streamer fishing was good.  

Streamer fishing black seemed to be the way to go under the clouds, although fishing brown trout type buggers has been very solid in the sun.  Nymphing pseudo type nymphs was O.K., but the fish were really on Black Caddis Pupae, and anything small and black would work.  Worms are still taking fish, especially on the lower river where the feeder creeks were dumping in a little mud, and irrigation return exists.

The flow has dropped back to 2,500 cfs now, and should remain there for quite a while.

The hopper bite hasn't been ideal, but good anglers are still taking fish close to the banks (I mean really close), or twitching them in the middle.

Hot weather will return this week, so we'll see if it improves.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#851 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#776 Recorded:  90 ° F Fishing: Good

The Bighorn's flows are dropping.  It's 3,850 cfs as we speak, and will go to 3,500 cfs tomorrow at 4:00 P.M.  Flows will remain at that level as long as they feel comfortable sustaining them, but it could be for months. 

A special thanks to the Dickerson men, for spending part of their tour of the west on the Bighorn again this year.  Always a good time, and congratulations, Dave for the last day.

The water temp is holding in the upper 50's right now, but should drop a little when the emergency flood pool is completely evacuated.  PMD"s, and Yellow Sally's are coming off, and rising fish are available at most times of day.  The nymphing was good with immitations of the hatch flies, but a #16 tan soft hackle worked just as good for me yesterday.  Some Black Caddis are around, and I'd pumped a few out of fish yesterday, too.

Boat traffic was high, but manageable.

Hopper's are still small, but will undoubtedly become a factor in the coming weeks.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#776 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#697 Recorded:  70 ° F Fishing: Great

Missouri River Report

I was able to spend a great week on the Missouri River, fishing below Holter Dam, and all of the sections down to Mountain Palace.  I very much enjoyed the fishing as the average size of fish was very impressive, and the action was steady all the way down through the canyon.

The flow was between 18,000 cfs to 19,000 throughout our week, but it seemed to help keep the bigger fish available, and in range for nymphing.  Sometimes the lower flows allow the bigger ones to disappear, and hold in water where it's tough to reach them. 

Although we caught some fish on PMD nymphs, our most successful tactics were fishing pink or tan soft hackles against the banks on the upper, and fishing a red chenille worm for a top fly in the canyon.   Pretty basic stuff, but when willing to fish lots of weight, and adjust leader length to your depth, kept us in constant action.

Thanks to the clients (you know who you are) for one of the more enjoyable weeks I've had in a long time.

DON'T FEAR THE HIGH WATER!

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#697 http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#661 Recorded:  65 ° F Fishing: Good

O.K., we're hanging in there at 9,500 cfs.  Nymphing is very good from the boat, as you might expect, but wading can very difficult right now.  The water temp is climbing into the upper 40's, so it's not prime time for San Juan Worm fishing, but it's getting close.  We're still finding mostly sowbugs in the fish, and I've been more consistently successful throwing "Soft Hackle" or "Ray Charles" type flies than with anything else.  Starting to see some Mother's Day Caddis buzzing around the lower river, but nothing much is happening with 'em.

Flows will almost certainly have to go up in the near future in order to accomodate the inflows, and the lack of available storage space for the water.  I'll keep you posted as we go along.

Muddy water from the feeder creeks has become far less of an issue, and you expect fishable banks all of the way down the upper sections.  Also, the spring moss is far less of an issue as well, but never completely dissapears.

Tight Lines,
Jeremy



]]> Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://bigskyflyfishers.com/fishing-reports#661