Bighorn River winter fun.
December 9, 2011
I went to the Bighorn river on November 29th with two friends for a day of fun. In the winter months, you can only hope for a day of 35 to 50 degree weather. We found a day that was about 48 degrees for a high and it turned out great. My friends and I got a late start to the water, but that does not matter much in the winter months. I prefer fishing in the middle part of the day in the winter. We put the boat on the water at After-bay around 10:30 a.m. and floated a short way down the south bank to one of my favorite spots. One the way John caught several fish on a white bugger pattern. When we got to the spot, got out and began to fish the area. John caught several more fish on the bugger. Bill caught several on nymphs and I was looking for a beatis hatch.
I saw some small beatis and midges hatching and a few fish were rising to them but not very regularly. I managed to catch a few fish and I decided right then that I was only going to dry fly fish the rest of the day. It is a great treat to dry fly fish outside of the typical summer months. As we all should know, the winter insects drop back to mainly midges and beatis. When I get a shot at dry fly fishing outside the summer months, I take full advantage of the fun.
One of the many things that sets the Bighorn apart from other tail waters is the After-bay. The After-bay area keeps the consistency of the river year round. Both the water temperature and flow are two of keys to the success of the Horn. Both of these greatly affect the quality and type of fishing that are available. I tested the water temperature and found it was still about 48 degrees this late in the season, which is perfect for beatis to hatch in great numbers. I knew I would have a great day if the clouds would stay over the water. As I am very lucky and educated on what to look for in the weather and water conditions I found just what I wanted in the day for fishing.
We drifted down stream a short way near the old Suck hole area and came across a nice couple fishing the north bank across from the suck hole. As we drifted by looking for heads I saw hundreds of heads sipping beatis. It was only about a hundred feet down from the couple and they had not noticed the activity. I drifted about two hundred yards down stream and cut across some of the feeding fish to get to shore. This made the dry fly feeding activity up and down stream from us as far as I could see with out bothering others. I tied on my favorite Yellowstone Fly Goods fly for this hatch (the CDC BWO) and began a fantastic fishing day.
I told my friends to switch to dry flies, but it took them a few minutes to decide to change. I caught about 10 fish in the first 30 minutes and I missed about 10 more in that time. John and Bill changed to dry flies and started catching a few on drys as well. We fished the area for another 30 minutes catching fish every couple of minutes. The sun came out and the dry fly fishing slowed down, but was not over by any means. The guys wanted to move downstream to a different shelf to try more nymph fishing. I could not believe they wanted to move, but I knew I would find more risers just about every there was slower water so we left.
As sure and the Horn is long, I found more rising fish all along the way to third island. When we arrived I walked to the slow water and found heads. I made two casts and caught a rainbow that was about 18 inches. The rainbow was sipping beatis about 35 feet across the side channel behind a small brush pile. I made my cast a couple of feet above the fish and when my drift crossed his path perfectly, the bow had no choice other than to sip it down. The take was perfectly beautiful. The rainbow was completely surprised to have a hook in his mouth. He fought with fantastic thrashing all over the place coming out of the water dancing across the surface followed by a nice run up stream then down. The water being nice and cool gave the bow extra long energy to fight.
I like to fish 4x or heavier tippet I knew I could to apply heavy pressure to land him quickly. I observed that beautiful fish in full detail and locked in into my memory for future recall. I caught a bunch more fish over the next hour all on the same small dry CDC BWO. I had to get home by 6 so we left the Horn by 4:30 p.m. I was a few minutes late getting home, but it was all worth it. This will be one of the great days to remember for a long time. By taking the time to remember all the details, I am able to recall fond memories years down the road. This is after all a great part of the many reasons we all go fishing. If we don’t remember the details of each and every fish, why are we taking the time to fishing.
Tight lines, have fun and remember the days. Some day that will be all you can do!
Roger
