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Bighorn River Trip

Bighorn River Trip

Ryan Gabert |

I made the trek over to the Bighorn River in Ft. Smith, Montana late last week, and had an exceptional trip! The nymphing was good as always, with Pink hot bead Ray Charles, Green Weenies, and Split Back Baetis being my hottest flies. The real highlight of the trip, however, was the dry fly fishing. Starting around 10 in the morning the midges would start coming off, and the fish would be swarming on them until nearly dark. There would be pods of 30-60 fish rising constantly and gulping down midge clusters - it was the best dry fly fishing I've ever had on the Bighorn. The BWO's were also coming off, but the trout definitely keyed in on the midges. My best patterns were a Bighorn Midge Cluster in 16-18 trailed with an Eric's Midge or a Morgan's Midge in 18-22. The rising fish were fairly spooky, so my best success was with a downstream or down and across presentation so they saw my flies before my line or leader. It was a great trip, if you have the opportunity I would most definitely recommend getting over there for a few days to experience some of the best big river dry fly fishing I've had. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Clyde from the Drake magazine was making in appearance in Ft. Smith Clyde from the Drake magazine was making in appearance in Ft. Smith
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Conor with a nice Bighorn Rainbow Conor with a nice Bighorn Rainbow