TRAVELINGWITHTOOLS

I had spent a couple of weeks on Hebgen lake near West Yellowstone, and after getting my fill of that top notch dry fly action, I decided it was time to move on. As often happens in my meandering travels, I didn’t have a plan set in stone. The skies had been getting more smoky from wildfires in Idaho, and the temperatures were hot hot hot. Hoot owl restrictions were in place on several waters and I decided to head over to the Bighorn river, where the cold water coming out of Yellowtail dam keeps the water at a healthy level for the main tailwater stretch. It was also one of the big name Montana rivers that I hadn’t yet fished.

I made a couple of stops along the way, first at the Grey Bear FAS on the Yellowstone, then at the Big Rock access on the Boulder, just south of Big Timber. 2021 was a dry year and both rivers were low, though there had been a storm that muddied the Yellowstone from a landslide somewhere upstream. It was blowing sideways as well when I arrived. Still, the next day I managed to pull a couple of fish from a slot right next to the campsite, which was quiet in the middle of the week.

I camped at the Big Rock FAS a couple days later. The Boulder river was warmer, being so much smaller than the Yellowstone, but the water was clear. I found a long slot just upstream of the campground that held fish and they were interested in the hoppers that I threw at them. With the water too hot to fish much of the time I was there, I spent time at the vise tying bugs for the Bighorn. Worms and scuds, I’d read, that was the main action. I wasn’t expecting more great dry fly action.

To get to the Bighorn river from the Yellowstone, you drive south off of the interstate through the Crow Reservation. At some other places where I’ve fished on a reservation, the tribe gets some income by issuing tribal permits. Well I don’t know how the Crow got screwed by the government in this instance, but no tribal permit is required. The small towns along the way are not prospering. There is an abandoned school in Saint Xavier that breaks your heart to see. Maybe there’s a newer, better school somewhere? But the grand old brick building decays behind a fence…

About 30 miles south from exit 495 on I-90, you arrive at the Bighorn access, which is the main takeout for guided floats down the river. I imagine there are plenty of fish downstream, but the water does warm as it gets farther from the dam and the fish counts drop. There is also a lot of private property and limited bank access.

There is plenty of fishy water near the campground, but the wading access was tough. The water was too deep near the easily accessed trail, dropping right down from the bank. I ended up doing some bushwhacking to get into a side channel that was slower and shallow, but had silty mud and weeds to trudge through. It was worth it though. I came across a creek that was dumping brown water into the otherwise clear channel, which made for a classic seam between clear and dirty water. There were fish stacked up in the seam, big common carp that I’d heard were plentiful on the Bighorn.

I tied on a woolly bugger and on the first cast got surprised by a decent brown trout! The carp were tricky though, since I could not see the fly in the dirty water. They will suck in your fly and reject it without so much as a tap on the line, so the key is to make tiny strips that always keep a tight line to the fly. That way if there is the slightest resistance on a pull, you yank into a strip set and hopefully meet a fish on the other end.

Which I did, after some time, and a beautiful golden creature it was.

I think I managed to pull two or three carp out of that seam before heading back to camp, and it put me into a happy mood.

The next day I rode the bike upstream to the access point known as Three Mile, and walked along the trail a bit to get my bearings. The water quality was very different from the area around the campsite yesterday, much shallower with round rocks and cobble, and lots of weeds at this point late in the summer. There looked to be places you could wade all the way across without too much trouble. And the bug activity was immense.

There were millions of PMD’s floating downstream, and the fish were eating them with gusto. At the same time, a blanket hatch of caddis was coming off the water, so much that at times they were a bother to keep out of my eyes and nose. But the Pale Morning Duns seemed to be the bug of choice, and after switching through a variety of ties, I found one they liked. I must have stood in close to the same spot for more than two hours, and there was always a rising fish to cast to.

After a while, the bugs on the water were so thick that it became useless to try and feed an artificial to a fish. I couldn’t pick my fly out from the naturals and I had to just stand there and watch the spectacle. Eventually the action died down and I wandered downstream to explore more water.

The next day was more of the same, great dry fly fishing until it became overwhelming, then a gradual slow down. It’s crazy looking back at my tracks and photos. I only spent three days here! Why the rush? Next time I’ll plan a week, at least.

The Bighorn FAS is open year round and has about 10 campsites for $12 a night, with your state fishing license, and a 7 night limit. The sites are not well defined and could just entail pulling off the loop trail on a flat spot. There are also a number of RV parks and lodges along the river. For day trips it is only an hour and a half from Sheridan WY, or an hour and a quarter from Billings, MT.

This short trip ranks pretty highly in my list of top Montana experiences so far. Have you fished the Bighorn in this stretch lately? Let us know how it went in the comments below.