Bighornflyfishing.com

Mark From Cali With A Handsome Lower River Brown

The fishing river wide has been pretty good, fishing hard and working the water effectively will certainly bring trout to hand. While the river is thick with weeds they are not breaking up at this point so the floating weeds are not an issue. The upper 3 miles is seeing hatches of pseudos and black caddis while the lower river is seeing tricos, pseudos and tan caddis. The whole river from top to bottom is nymphing and streamer fishing well. The recent cold weather over the past few days has slowed the hopper fishing but if we get some more hot temps in the coming days the fish should start looking for them again to a point.

Effective Nymphs: Red Worm, Pseudo Wonder, Black Midge, Ray Charles tan, grey and dead tan

Nymph fishing has been solid over the past few days. The riffles have still been the most productive or anywhere else without dense weeds. With the weeds displacing the water up and out in the river channel the slow flats on the river are really slow right now between riffles. Sowbugs, pseudo nymphs, midges, black caddis pupa and worms have been the most productive patterns underneath. Hoppers have still been productive not great but good.

Hatches: Pseudos, black caddis, tricos

The Old Terrestrial is always good for a few

Hoppers are still producing well throughout the day. Nymphing is slower in the morning and picks up well in the afternoon and evening. As far as match the hatch fishing goes black caddis, tan caddis and pseudos.

Nymph Patterns: Ray Charles tan & Grey, Pseudo Wonder, tungteaser in black, San juan worm, p tails, caddis pupa

Dale From PA With a Nice Hopper Brown

I apologize for the lack of fishing report I was up in British Columbia fishing in the Fernie Area. Over the past two weeks the river has seen some dramatic changes due to the amount of aquatic vegetation. The upper 3 miles is choked up with weeds all the way to the surface. The further down river you go the less weeds there are and at this point the weeds are not breaking up so floating grass is not a big issue. The vegatation in the riverbed has pushed the water up and out and has dramatically slowed the flow of the river. The fish are stacked in the riffles even more so now and on the edges of the river where the weeds are not as bad. The boat fishing with nymph rigs has not been great, but wade fishing with a hopper dropper or standard bobber rig in the riffles has been very effective. There are still black caddis especially in the upper river along with pseudos present in good numbers. There have been tricos and tan caddis emergences in the lower river down to two leggins and hoppers have been good river wide. The river is still giving up some great fishing, fish a little bit harder, try some new areas and adjust your expectations and a great day can be had.

It looks like the water may be bumped down one more time this summer. Inflows in the lake have fallen, so we expect river flows to be dropped to 2,500 cfs soon. Fishing has been fair on nymphs. Fish have moved into the fast water and are eating caddis pupa, sowbugs, and Baetis (Pseudo) nymphs. The olive Flash-back Pheasant Tail nymph has been a top producer (fish are eating it for a caddis pupa), but Soft-hackle Sowbugs and Skinny Bills are also working. The Skinny Bill is a light colored Baetis pattern and can be very effective when the mayflies are emerging.

The black caddis are still coming off on the upper four to five miles of river. Mid-afternoon brings good pupa fishing, and egg laying flights occur in the evening. Size #18 CDC Black Caddis and #20 Hemingway Caddis work well. Also, drop a pupa pattern about 20” below a dry to fool the picky fish.

Nice fish are being taken on hoppers, but we haven’t experienced a hopper frenzy like last year. This is probably because the Crow Tribe sprayed for hoppers earlier in the season, and this knocked insect numbers down. However, we seem to be seeing a new generation of hoppers now, and there are a lot of them. We may yet enjoy some great surface action.
Weed growth is becoming a factor and we expect the nymph fishing to become slow in the coming weeks. Anglers will have to concentrate on the riffle water. We’re hoping the hoppers and possibly the tricos will help things out. If not, expect to work hard for every fish. Presentation is extremely important.

This video was shot in july during PMD Spinner Fall Client Jeff H. From Ohio

Nice fish on an ant pattern in july

Nice Brown Mark Gervase Photo

More of the same on Bighorn. Hoppers are the name of the game. The majority of hoppers I am seeing have yellow underbodies and are present in a wide range of sizes. There has been an early afternoon caddis hatch on the upper 3 and consistent evening caddis throughout. Pseudos in the mix for those of you who like technical dry fishing. Nymph Fishing Solid.

Patterns: Rainy’s Hopper, Streambank Hopper, Sweetgrass Hopper, A wide range of p tails; flashbacks, olive, regular, green wired, beadhead etc… all working well. Palmered caddis, cdc caddis, hemingway caddis.

Selection Of Hoppers
Hoppers are the name of the game at this point. Fishing a bead head p tail, caddis pupa etc off the back was very effective in the riffles. With the water in the low 60’s the fish are looking for that well oxygenated water in the fast stuff. The pseudocleon hatch is building daily and the black caddis hatch is still consistent.

Nice Fish Caught On A Hopper

The Yellow Sallies and PMD’s are all but gone at this point. A few good areas with PMD spinner falls as well. The most consistent match the hatch fishing is now the evening Black Caddis. There are also a few pseudos starting to show themselves as well. There has been a consistent hopper window midday especially when it is hot, sunny and breezy. Nymphing is still quite good, early morning bite has been a little bit slow but gets good in the afternoon.

Rainbow That Fell For a Black Caddis Dry

The river continues to fish well from top to bottom. An angler can really choose their fishing style and be successful right now. Dry fly fishing, nymph fishing and streamer fishing are all good right now. The hopper fishing has been solid the past two days, the yellow sallies and pmd’s are not as strong anymore, but the black caddis are going strong from mid afternoon thru the evening. We had a few isolated PMD spinner falls the past two days. Caught some nice fish on streamers last night as well. The aquatic vegetation is growing quickly especially on the upper 3 miles.

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