Fly Fishing the Bighorn River in Montana This includes a Bighorn River fishing report
Type of Stream
Tailwater
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Species
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
(Wild)
Size
Large
Location
South Central Montana
Nearest Towns
Fort Smith, Montana
Hardin, Montana
Season
Year-round
Access:
Fair-Good
Special Regulations
Two areas
Non-Resident License
State of Montana
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Bighorn River Montana Fishing Report – April 16, 2024
The river is still flowing above a normal level and mostly clear. Good Light Green and Red or blood Midge, March Browns, Blue-winged olive and Skwala stonefly and other hatches are taking place. Keep checking back as we update the Bighorn fishing report often.
Stream Conditions:
Rate: 4770 cfs
Level: 61.64 ft
Afternoon Water Temperature: 48 degrees
Clarity: clear
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=06287000
Weather:
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Cream and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, work good here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Skwala Stoneflies: 10, nymphs and adults
Strategies, Techniques and Tips:
Fly Fishing On The Bighorn River In Montana: The Bighorn River was considered the best tailwater trout fishing destination in the United States for several years. Two or three years of drought conditions hurt the fish population a few years ago but even then, the Bighorn River had more trout per mile than most any other stream in the nation. Since then, it has rebounded very well and the fishing is again top notch. Fly fishing the Big Horn River is again about as good as it gets. The Bighorn River starts from the tailwater at Boysen Reservoir in Wyoming. It flows through Montana for more than 150 miles before flowing into Bighorn Lake. Yellowtail Dam forms the Bighorn Lake and the great tailwater fishery of the Big Horn River. It is a very popular destination for anglers and for a very good reason.Below the Yellowtail dam, the Bighorn River flows through wide open country. As with many streams flowing from the Rocky Mountains into the plains, trees become scarce except along the banks of the river. The surrounding land is mostly grassland. Cottonwood trees line some of the river’s banks. Off in the distance, you can see the Pryor and the Bighorn Mountains. rise from the prairie to the south and west.The Bighorn River flows through the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area for its first 20 miles below Yellowtail dam. When it exits the recreational area, it enters the Crow Indian Reservation. It flows through the reservation for its next 28 miles. Seventy-eight miles from the dam, It joins the mighty Yellowstone River near Bighorn, MT.Several miles of river below the Yellowtail Dam has a few thousand trout per mile. The stream is wide, averaging forty to sixty yards in most areas. There’s a total of about 45 miles of the tailwater that provides good fly fishing opportunities.The trout average about 16 inches and consist of both browns and rainbows. For a tailwater, the Big Horn River has a huge population of aquatic insects that provide some great hatches and dry fly fishing opportunities. Probably the best feature of the Bighorn River is that you can fish it during the entire year. Fishing can be good during the middle of the Winter. Most of the trout fishing on the Bighorn River is done from the dam to the Bighorn Access, a distance of about thirteen miles. This section of the river contains the highest population of trout. Naturally, it is also the most popular section. At times, it can become a little crowded during the prime season between July and September. The water slows down some below the Bighorn Access site and irrigation begins to become a factor in the flows. During the summer, the river begins to get warmer downstream of this section. The rainbow trout population is lower but there are still usually plenty of brown trout for the next several miles downstream to the Two- Leggins Access. There’s still some brown trout even further downstream, but the numbers decrease. Most anglers prefer to float the river. It lets you cover a lot more water than you could possible fish wading. Even so, when it gets down to it, you have to slow down and get into a good position to make careful presentations. One great feature of the river are the islands. They break up the stream into different types of water and provide many places for the trout to reproduce, live and feed. Anglers mostly fish imitations of midges during the Winter months. Blue-winged Olives begin hatching in April and last until June. Trout are taken on both nymphs and dry flies during this period.During July, Little Yellow Stonefly hatches take place and both nymphs and dry flies imitating these insects work well.The largest aquatic insect hatches on the Big Horn take place during the late summer and early fall months. Pale Morning Duns represent the majority of hatches during this time. By August, PMDs begin to be supplemented by large caddisfly hatches. August and September also bring about some huge Trico mayfly hatches. Our Bighorn River fishing report helps you keep track of the hatches taking place and the flies to use to imitate them.
Fly Fishing Guide to the Bighorn River in Montana: The methods, techniques and tactics used for fly fishing the Bighorn River are diverse and varied. They range from fishing heavy streamers to tiny dry flies. The strategies change with the seasons, water levels and hatches. It also depends on whether you fish the river from a drift boat or wade. The Big Horn River provides the perfect water for trout. Its pH is great because its water flows through limestone rock far above the lake providing an almost spring creek type water chemistry. The trout grow large and fast because there is plenty of food available for the trout to eat.As mentioned in the introduction, the Big Horn is a wide stream of up to two-hundred feet. It has islands in many areas which splits the flow of the river into channels, flats, pools, and moderate speed runs providing a very diverse habitat for the trout. These islands change the flow of the river creating different current speeds and therefore different current seams that carry food downstream. The trout can be found in many different types of water but tend to prefer certain types over others, depending on the season and hatches taking place. Trout can be taken on nymphs most anytime of the year. Dry fly fishing depends greatly on the hatches. As you will see in our hatches section, there isn’t a very diverse selection of aquatic insects but those that exist in the river exist in huge quantities. The trout can key in on any one of these insects and become selective in their feeding. That often requires what anglers generally refer to as technical fishing.The water is the river is clear and the trout usually get a good look at your flies. If you make a lousy presentation, you can look forward to poor results. Long, light leaders are often required. This doesn’t mean that the trout are difficult to catch. They can be caught in good numbers. It just means that poor strategies and lousy presentations want accomplish very much.
Bighorn River Hatches and Trout Flies: Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Big Horn River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726. As we mentioned before, the aquatic insect population isn’t as diverse as many Montana trout streams but the insects there exist in very plentiful quantities. One insect there in huge quantities is the midge. Trout can be taken year-round on imitations of the midge larvae, pupae and adults. During the winter months, that is what most of the fishing in the Big Horn comes down to – midge fishing. Most of the time you need to be fishing a larva imitation right on the bottom, or a pupa imitation right under the surface if a hatch is occurring. At times, during heavy midge hatches, trout can be taken on adult imitations on the dry fly. Winter fishing will vary with every passing cold front. The weather will range from sub-zero temperatures to as high as the low sixties. The water below the dam will remain relatively constant. Starting mid March through April and May, and sometimes the first couple of weeks in June, the Big Horn will see large hatches of Blue-winged Olives. Other than midges, these small mayflies will represent almost all of the insects that hatch during this time. Trout can be taken on nymph imitations of the BWOs during the mornings and up until the hatches occur during the warmest part of the day, usually early to mid afternoon. You will need to switch to Perfect Fly BWO emergers with or without the trailing shuck during the early part of the hatch. Trout can also be taken on imitations of the duns after the hatch is fully underway. Spinners are effective during the falls. These mayflies are bi-brooded and will hatch again in September, October and the first of November. June and July both provide Little Yellow Stonefly hatches, called Yellow Sallies by most anglers. Fish can be taken on both the nymph and adult imitations. Fish the nymph up until the egg laying activity starts and then you may want to change to the dry fly adult imitation. Scuds and sowbugs both exist in the Big Horn River in very plentiful quantities. It is one of the most important sources of food for the trout. Our imitations of both the scud and sowbug work especially well on this stream and are very effective throughout the year. Terrestrial are somewhat important, especially during high winds, but maybe not as important as they are on many Montana trout streams. Imitations of beetles, ants and grasshoppers will catch trout during the summer months. Don’t overlook streamers. The river has plentiful quantities of baitfish, minnows and sculpin. Streamers are very effective on the large brown trout, especially during overcast days, or early and late in the day. Our Perfect Fly imitations are the most realistic and effective flies you can use on the Big Horn River. We have imitations of everything that hatches or exist there. If you haven’t already done so, we invite you to try them. We are confident you will use nothing else once you do. I failed to mention the lowly cranefly, but the Big Horn River has plenty of them, and the trout will eat our imitations of the adults and their larvae. Our Perfect Fly imitations of the craneflies are the best you can buy. We hope you give them a try on your next trip to the Big Horn River. During June, July and the first of August the PMDs, or Pale Morning Duns will start coming off. Fish the PMD nymph up until the hatch starts in mid-morning and then change to an emerger imitation. When the trout start taking the little mayflies on the surface, you may want to change to the dun imitation. From the middle of July through September, hatches of Grannon Caddisflies, or Little Black Caddisflies occur on the Big Horn River. These are normally called Mother’s Day hatches but take place long after Mother’s Day on the Big Horn. From the middle of June until the middle of August you will find huge hatches of Spotted Sedges taking place. This is the most important caddisfly on the river. Little Short-horned Sedges will also hatch from about the middle of July until the middle of August. July, August and the early part of September brings on hatches of Green Sedges. The most important stage of this caddisfly is the larva, imitations of which are called Green Rock Worms. They are effective flies to use anytime on the Bighorn. Thanks for visiting our Bighorn River fishing report.