Fishing update.
August 17, 2011
The fishing has taken off. With the exception of the Little Bighorn, Tongue Canyon and Shell Canyon, the creeks and lakes are fishing great. The three mentioned waters are very fishable, but the canyon waters are just a bit higher than normal still. The mountain waters are fishing great with dry flies although some are reporting spots that are not fishing as good as other areas. As far as I have been fishing, numbers are high and fish quality is better than I have seen in more than a decade. I have been catching many fish every where I go all through out the Bighorn Mountains.
We are getting some afternoon rain showers in the mountains, which occur some time between 2 and 5 pm several days a week. Many people leave when the storm rolls in, but the fishing after the storm can be great. The big questions are how long is the storm and how cold is the storm. When the water chills, the hatches shut off and change to smaller flies. You have to be on the mountain to figure out what the hatch changes are. The skills of the fly fisherman control the success rate of the fishing.
This morning I stopped by my friends house out at the Powder Horn on Little Goose Creek. Red was wondering what hatch was coming off and what fly would work for the hatch. I listened to Red describing the flies he was seeing, and I figured there was a small midge hatch or possibly a small trico hatch happening every morning.
When I first got there about 7:45 a.m. The hatch was slow, but it had started. I could immediately see the hatch was about a 26 to maybe 20 size. I knew I do not carry flies under size 20 in my arsenal of flies, so I started to think I might not be able match the hatch, but I could get close. The hatch looked like a small midge while it was in flight in a light color, so I decided to try a couple of midge and beatis patterns in black, grey and olive to get started. I did not get but one half- hearted smack on the flies, but I know they were wrong. I took another look at the flies in the air and started thinking light green to cream was probably the exact color so I tried to catch a couple bugs to see what colors I needed.
I finally caught one of the bugs but I squished it so bad I could not tell what the fly was. I did however, get size and color figured out. I searched my box and found a 20 size spent wing trico black and cream in color that I thought was close enough to match the hatch even though size 20 was the big end of the hatch. A couple casts later the fish were watching, but not biting.
I looked at the insects a bit closer and noticed the bugs had up wings like a may fly, not spent wings like a may fly spinner. I decided a stream side modification was in order so I bent the spent wings up and smashed them together as best I could. A couple casts later I had my first fish take the fly perfectly. No hesatation, open mouth, close mouth and set the hook. Six nice fish and one LDR in 20 minutes later Red and I were very happy.
I was happy not only because the fish were nice healthy browns that I caught before work, but I was happiest because I figured out the hatch and the subtle differences it took to catch some fish. I was happiest mostly because I helped my friend Red figure out what he needs to catch some fish on his daily fishing expeditions. Thanks to Red I got to enjoy my day before work at 9:00 a.m. That is a great friend.
Make your fishing fun and relaxing, it will be more memorable. And when your fishing days are no more than a relaxing day of naps and memories in your rocking chair, you can smile and relive those invaluable times.
Have fun.
Roger
