Update July 7th 2011
July 8, 2011
The waters are starting to come into form. The upper small creeks and streams have come down significantly, but some still find them hard to fish and wade. I drove to many creeks and streams on Sunday 3nd and Monday the 4th. The south end of the mountain is in good shape. The Middle Powder is having some good stone hatches and big mayfly hatches mixed with a few caddis. Our private access water near there is starting to fish good with dry flies. The Buffalo area is starting to become more fishing friendly. Clear Creek in Buffalo is high and tough fishing, but nymphs and streamers are working. The higher parts of the creeks are starting to fish with some dry fly action.
The Sheridan area creeks are higher, but I have seen significant reduction of flows on most of the lower creeks and streams. I plan on checking out the higher mountain creeks and streams again on Sunday 10th. Small tributary streams can be fished, but the flows are faster than normal at this time of the season. You will have to bring your A game to do well. Nymph fishing is still the best option for most streams. We are seeing some top water activity where the creeks are clear to off color with stimulator type patterns.
The creeks will start getting better and better each week as the summer goes from now on. We have been catching heavier fish this season already. I shot a TV show called Trout TV and we caught 5 fish between 20 and 22 inches on our Piney Creek section. It was tough work in the high tea stained water, but the show should be great. Look for it in March 2012 through February 2013. I will get a copy of the show some time around February 2012 and I will show in my shop. We will have some clips on the this site as soon as we can.
As most of us shops have been saying, this season will have great fishing, we just have to wait out the water. The Bighorn Mountains will be ahead of most of the big famous waters this season. The south end of the Bighorns is fishing great on the Middle Fork of the Powder and out guided section of the N.Fork Powder. The next two weeks should get us finished with run off. Don’t be surprised if the water is higher than you have seen in the past. This great water will be here all summer. I do not expect this great water to be low before mid August. This is a good thing for the fishing and the fish.
Thanks and have fun.
Roger
