Spring fishing... next week

 Cold cold cold here right now. Fishing has been as good as ever until this cold snap. Got some open days this weekend and March 6-12 if anybody wants a warm up. I'll tell ya about mexico. 

In the meantime this is what's going on 

Got a new boat

Anthony got a big brown

And so did Gary

Bighorn River flow update

 Releases from Boysen reservoir have increased to 1100cfs. Not sure how much higher she'll go. 

Fishing remains good despite the mossy conditions 

Lots of big fish have been hooked and landed this last week... with even more hooked and lost... they're still swimming around out there. 

Big Horn River Flow Update - May Fishing Report - Thermopolis

 Releases from Boysen reservoir have been raised to a little over 900cfs as of last Thursday. Its been pretty mossy but is starting to clear a little bit. Not sure when/if we will get another bump of water

Still getting fish to eat sow bugs, baetis nymphs, and midges. Streamer fishing has been real good some days... other days not so much.

We only have a few dates left open for May... its going to be a busy summer for all of us here guiding on the Big Horn... let's nail down some fishing time!

April Fishing Report

 Busy little April we've got here. Fishing has been good for the most part... north wind has shut down the bite last couple days but we've got some real nice shitty weather coming up... good for the big fish and the BWOs

Tom caught a great brown on his first day fly fishing the Big Horn River

River is still around 600 cfs. Snowpack is +- 90%. Hopefully we will see an increase in flows by May. Blue wings are hatching and if a guy or gal wanted to dedicate some time to dry fly fishing ya could end up finding a handful of nice fish rising. Lots of pods of smaller 10" fish are eating dries like crazy. Sow bugs and baetis nymphs are still producing well under the indicator. 

Couple available days at the end of this month. Give us a call 307-921-0475 if ya wanna go fishing. 

May is the unsung month... water temps warm up a bit and most anglers find other places to fish..

Get those thumbs up!

March Fishing Report - Big Horn River, Thermopolis WY

 Flows are still around 600cfs. 

Snowpack is 90%. Hopefully we get some spring moisture. 

Lots of smaller fish in the river this year so summer is looking good for dry fly fishing. Rainbows are in full spawn mode right now so you should avoid shallow gravel bottoms. Sow bugs and midges seem to be prevalent food sources with a few small baetis nymphs showing up in stomach samples. Little fish 10-12" are eating midge and bwo dries.

Pretty fun fishing on the river right now as spring starts to reveal herself. Lots of little guys are keeping the action consistent but your next cast could be the trout of a lifetime

March is staying busy with a few dates available next week and April is shaping up like a fine month for fishing. 

Cooooold

 Finally breaking the zero degree mark today. Oughtta be into the 40s by next weekend. We have a few trips going out at the end of the month and March is filling in... 

Fishing was good before the cold hit us. Lots of nice trout eating sow bugs and midges. 

The Big Horn River flow is around 600cfs below Boysen Reservoir 

New Year... new fishin report

 Well some of you folks may know, but for those of you that don't... we left and came back. We are guiding full time in Thermopolis these days. 

Last season the Big Horn River saw normal to low flows and the big fish flourished. Snowpack is below average as of right now so we should see similar conditions this year on the river. 

Want to go fishing? Give me a call 307-921-0475  middle February is looking to be a good time on the Big Horn

Here's some photos from 2020

You know you want some of this 😉

Spring Fishing Report - Bighorn River - Thermopolis, WY

Spring weather is finally here. Temps are in the 50s today and sunny, looks like we will be up into the 60s next week. Most of the low elevation snow is melted and the ground is soaking up most of it so we're hoping the creeks won't be running red mud.

Flow right now is around 1000cfs. Nymphing is good with sow bugs and midge pupa in various colors. Starting to see some BWOs around, no fish looking up yet but I'd bet a baetis nymph would do well in the afternoon.

Starting the day off right with Chris & Ben on Saturday. Photo: Chris Roberts

Talked to the guy at the Bureau of Reclamation yesterday, he says unless we get a bunch of  spring moisture there will be no flush this year and that river flows should stay stable thru April and into May. Good news for us fishermen.

March?

Cold start to March here on the Big Horn in Thermopolis. I think we're topping out at 4 degrees this afternoon. Should be the last of the cold weather as temps warm up into the 40's next week.

We are back from our steelhead adventure in Washington and boy did we have a good time...and of course Alyssa outfished me. But we are excited to start fishing on our home river again, as soon as the ice jams melt.

Open days for March: 10-15, 17-24 and a couple other dates here and there.

April is filling in fast... open dates April 2-10, 14, 20, 21, 25-30

Book before April and receive our 2018 rates $450 for 2/full day float $350 for one.

Hope to see ya on the water soon!

Bighorn River Fishing Report & Hosted Trips

Wow. No blog post since August. I apologize. We had a super busy end of summer and fall/winter. Fishing was good all the way thru November...most days... but August was probably the highlight of our season. But for now I'll expand on our recent fishing here on the Bighorn River. It has been okay. Definitely looking for warmer days following warmer nights to get the trouts active. Our hot bugs have been Ray Charles and midge patterns. The flow is around 1000cfs which is perfect. Slower, deeper runs and long leaders are the ticket. The bite window seems to be between 11am and 2pm. We are booking trips for the rest of January, but we will be heading to the coast of Washington for all of February to do some steelhead fishing. We are booking trips for March right now and it is starting to fill in... perhaps the best time of year to catch numbers of fish. Our snowpack right now is around 85%, so barring any late winter snow storms and/or major spring rains we should have normal flows for April, May and June.

In December we were fortunate enough to host some of our clients to Christmas Island for bonefish and giant trevally. We are already planning another hosted trip June 19-26 at the Lagoon View Resort. 7 nights lodging, 6 days guided fishing, all meals, $2400/person. If you can't make it for the summer trip, we will be going back in December. That is perhaps the best thing about Christmas Island... it fishes consistently year-round. Being as it sits so close to the equator it is constantly 85 degrees.

Chris & Alyssa hoisting one of many milkfish caught. These fish fight incredibly hard

A very nice bonefish from the flats of the lagoon

our guy Chris with a beefy GT

Sunrise over the lagoon, running out to Huff Dam

I have become obsessed with these fish. it's a tug-o-war when hooked

this was the first GT landed... right in front of our clients as the boat came to pick us up

Cigars, rum, and bitters after an awesome day of fishing with Georgie, Rand, Steve and Dr. Bill

Traditional outrigger canoe and $10,000 worth of rods & reels

Rainbow Runner, excellent sashimi. you don't have to go far to catch the bluewater species.

Bluefin Trevally, perhaps the prettiest of flats species

Chris hooked up with a milkfish

We have 6 spots open for these hosted trips to Christmas Island, email me bighorndrifters@gmail.com or give me a call 307-480-8457 if youre interested.


Also as a side note... our rates for guide trips will be going up this year to stay consistent with area outfitters, so book now before we jack the prices up in April.

We'll see ya on the river!

Big Horn River Fishing Report - Wedding of the Waters - Thermopolis, WY

I'd like to say that fishing isn't any good, and some days it may not be, but other days it's been pretty fantastic. Still getting some hopper action, fish up on tricos when the wind isn't blowing, and dry/dropper and/or nymphing has been very consistent. Flows remain steady around 1200cfs and the weather is looking great for the next couple weeks.

Here are some highlights from the last week of fishing with clients...

Cheryl caught this big ol' brown on a hopper with Alyssa

and then they found this big ol' carp

Larry came out to fish with us on his first time fly fishing

and he caught these beautiful browns on hoppers with Chris

Tina scored this big brown with Alyssa 

Our longtime client Gary K. enjoyed some excellent hopper/dropper fishing for a couple days and was rewarded with this colorful brown trout

Another AWESOME brown trout from the Big Horn River in Thermopolis, Wyoming

This was the view from my rowers seat all day with Ben hooking up consistently 

    

....and we had a great couple days with Chris & Paul and their crew

Have a boat or two available for the next couple days, the big fish really seem to be eating right now. Also have have September 8-17 open and we can get you in a boat pretty much any other day except Sept 21-23. Time to start thinking about October and pre spawn browns...