Dirty water report

Fishing over the weekend was pretty good despite the dirty water.  We ended up doing half days and still hooked about 20 fish per boat. Flows are still around 7000cfs but I heard a rumor that they may drop it next week. Stay tuned.

Weekend update

Flows are around 7000cfs. Inflow to the reservoir is around 5000. Reservoir level is around 65%. The lake is muddy and there's dirty water coming out of the dam. And where's this giant runoff? We're getting a slow melt and the Bureau of Recklessness is screwing up the river. Give them a call and ask em what the hell is going on!?!

As for fishing... it was decent last weekend. We caught fish. Some were good ones. We have trips going out tomorrow and I'll let ya know how it goes.

If ya wanna go on a float trip I would recommend a half day.

Fishing is silly good right now

Had my guy Chris from Jackson in the boat for the fourth time this year and he effing crushed it. Had close to 40 fish in the net.. single angler. Ridiculous.  Flows have been dropping all day,  will be around 3000cfs thru Wednesday so get out here now! Open tomorrow Tuesday and Wednesday. Do it. And the river below buffalo creek was very fishable today.

Bighorn River Flows

Reclamation Urges Caution During Fluctuation of River Flow Downstream of Boysen Dam

Media Contact: Mahonri Williams, (307) 261-5624

For Release: May 11, 2017

MILLS, Wyo. -- At the request of the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the Bureau of Reclamation will temporarily decrease the releases from Boysen Dam. The temporary decrease in flows will occur May 14-18.

The decrease in flow below Boysen Dam will allow the Wyoming Department of Transportation to stabilize an embankment associated with Highway 20/789 in the Wind River Canyon.

Beginning May 14 at 10:00 AM, Boysen Dam releases will be decreased by increments of approximately 500 cubic feet per second (cfs), occurring every four hours, to achieve flows of approximately 3,000 cfs the morning of May 15. On May 18, or upon completion of the project, the releases from Boysen Dam will be incrementally increased to approximately 6,500 cfs.

The public is urged to use extreme caution during this period of rapid fluctuation of flows below Boysen Dam.

And the fishing has been great. Excited for some lower flows for a couple days, fishing should be excellent. We have May 15-18 open

There's this, too

Reclamation Issues Snowmelt Forecast for Bighorn River Basin

Media Contact: Tyler Johnson, (406) 247-7609

For Release: May 10, 2017

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Reclamation's May forecast of the April through July runoff predicted for the Bighorn Basin is as follows:

• Bighorn Lake - Bighorn River April through July inflow to Bighorn Lake is forecast to be 3,057,600 acre-feet (af), which is 280 percent of the 30 year average of 1,093,400 af. Approximately 603,400 af of the forecasted amount flowed into Bighorn Lake during April, leaving approximately 2,454,200 af of inflow forecasted for May through July.
  
• Releases from Yellowtail Dam to the Bighorn River are currently 13,000 cfs. Based on the current operating projections and the expectation of record runoff, Bighorn Lake will be managed to fill to an elevation of 3640.0 feet. During peak runoff, releases from Yellowtail Dam to the Bighorn River are expected to be above 13,000 cfs.
  
• Buffalo Bill Reservoir - Shoshone River April through July inflow to Buffalo Bill Reservoir is forecast to be 1,250,000 af, which is 185 percent of the 30 year average of 677,200 af. Approximately 95,800 af of the forecasted amount flowed into Buffalo Bill during April, leaving approximately 1,154,200 af of inflow forecasted for May through July.
  
• Releases from Buffalo Bill Dam to the Shoshone River are currently 5,000 cfs. Based on the current operating projections and the expectation of record runoff, Buffalo Bill Reservoir will be managed to fill to an elevation of 5391.50 feet. During peak runoff, releases from Buffalo Bill Dam to the Shoshone River are expected to be above 5,000 cfs.
  
• Wind River - April through July snowmelt runoff into the Wind River above Bull Lake Creek is expected to be 800,000 af, which is 201 percent of the 30 year average of 398,100 af. Approximately 34,600 af of the forecasted amount was received during April, leaving approximately 765,400 af of inflow forecasted for May through July.
  
• Bull Lake Reservoir - April through July snowmelt runoff into Bull Lake Reservoir from Bull Lake Creek is expected to be 250,000 af, which is 184 percent of the 30 year average of 136,000 af. Approximately 10,300 af of the forecasted amount flowed into Bull Lake during April, leaving approximately 239,700 af of inflow forecasted for May through July.
  
• Boysen Reservoir - Wind River April through July inflow to Boysen Reservoir is forecast to be 1,500,000 af, which is 278 percent of the 30 year average of 540,000 af. Approximately 132,800 af of the forecasted amount flowed into Boysen during April, leaving approximately 1,367,200 af of inflow forecasted for May through July.
  
• Releases from Boysen Dam to the Wind River are currently 5,500 cfs. Based on the current operating projections and the expectation of record runoff, Boysen Reservoir will be managed to fill to an elevation of 4724.50 feet. During peak runoff, releases from Boysen Dam to the Wind River are expected to be well above 5,500 cfs.

For additional information on Buffalo Bill, Wind River, Boysen, and Bull Lake Reservoirs, contact Wyoming Area Manager Carlie Ronca at 307-261-5671. For additional information on Yellowtail Reservoir, contact Montana Area Manager Steve Davies at 406-247-7298.

From the Bureau of Reclamation website

Dirty water report

Well the slides up in the canyon have been contained so the clarity at wedding is great. But the crick across from wedding is puking in red mud from snow melt. Fishing is pretty much done with once you get past Buffalo Creek. But with that said, we've been having some stellar days on the river this week. We lost count after 40 fish hooked today and still managed to make it a full 8 hours on 3 miles of river. And most days we're the only boat out there.

One of many doubles from today

 Trout are eating worms and sow bugs and a few baetis and midge. Seeing handfuls of caddis out there so you could try a pupa. Still no fish up on dries except the random splashy eat.

Larry with a funny hat and a fine brown on Thursday

I wouldn't say get on the plane and get here now,  but if you happen to be driving thru Thermop on these early summer days or your local crick is muddied up, c'mon out and catch some fish. Great option for half day trips.

The funny hat in action... might be his lucky hat

Had some cancellations this week and plenty of days open for the rest of the month. Discovered a giant tear in the seat of my waters the other day so i dida little wet wading today.. waters still pretty cold... I'd probably trade a trip in the next week or two for a pair of Simms without holes.. im a size large.

We should start to see the river drop by early July just in time for tricos and hoppers and maybe some sallies... get in the boat,  let's go.