River Data:
River flow: 4200 cfs
Water Temp: 61 F
Tricos are back on the bighorn river and the early morning fishing has been good. The river flow is very conducive to wade fishing and the water temperature is comfortable. However higher water temperatures aren’t always great for trout. As the day warms up the water warms up and the trout are less likely to want to eat. The best time to fish the river is first light to 11:00am.
Hot Flies:
Nymphs: Sow bugs, caddis emergers, pseudo nymphs, scuds, sunken trico.
Method: 7 foot 3x or stronger leader to one BB. 1ft or so to the first fly and1ft or so to the second fly on your tippet.
Size 16-18 Tan Soft Hackle Ray Charles
Size 16-18 Gray Soft Hackle Ray Charles
Size 16-18 Carpet Sow Bug Gray and Tan
Size 16-20 Caddis Emerger (Poodle sniffer, big mac, or bead head caddis)
Size 18-22 Pseudo Wonder Nymph
Size 18-22 Pseudo Quill Nymph
Size 18-22 Black Baetis Nymph
Size 18-22 Sunken Trico
Size 16-22 PMD Wonder Nymph
Trout are primarily sitting in traditional dry fly spots awaiting the Trico, Pseudo and PMD spinners, but they are still eating nymphs while they await the spinner fall. Fish the riffles and heavy seam lines. Basically anywhere you see bugs or debris piling up. A seven foot leader works, but a lot of guys are running a 5 foot leader and it seems to be working just fine.
Dry Flies: Caddis in the evenings and Trico’s in the early mornings. There are some PMD’s around but it’s tough to find trout eating them.
Method: 9 foot 5x leader to the top fly. 1ft or so leader to the second fly.
Size 16-20 Black Caddis patterns. Both Black CDC and elk hair caddis patterns are working well.
Size 18-22 Trico spinners
Size 18-22 Trico duns
Size 16-18 PMD spinners
With warmer water temperatures your best fishing is first thing In the morning. It’s best to get out there at the very first light of the day and start by fishing a Trico dun pattern. The Trico duns will slow down and there will be a lull in activity for about 30 minutes until the spinners start hitting the water. It’s usually all ver by 11:00am, but If you look closely you can still catch trout eating in sneaky spots until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. If your not an early morning riser you can catch trout on Caddis in the evenings. There are PMD’s around, but with so many other food sources it’s hard to tell if trout are targeting them. Either way it’s a great fly to run as an indicator fly on the Trico dry fly setup. The PMD’s seem to appear towards the end of the Trico spinner fall.
Streamers:
Colors: White, olive, black, brown, red and yellow Especially WHITE
The streamer bite is day to day. Certainly cloudy days are better, but there are so many bait fish on the banks that it’s impossible for all the trout to ignore them. The whitefish, sucker, rainbow and shiner minnows are everywhere and with less slack water on the banks they are constantly getting flushed into the main river channel where hungry trout await. Fish the streamer to the banks and back at about a 20degree angle and strip it quickly into the main river channel.
Happy Summer Fishing from Forrester’s Bighorn River Resort!