On the water report

Fished with Ryan on Friday & Saturday and had an awesome time. He came up from Houston and fished grey reef before he got to thermop and said he caught more fish here. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it! We lost count before lunch. The weather was gorgeous and the fishing was absolutely fantastic!

21 inch bow ate a size 20 midge under the bridge

Still offering $350 discount rates for 2 anglers until March 1st. Got a little snow coming in this week then we will see warmer temps again next week.

Love the blue on this brown

Plenty of holes in my calendar for March would really like to get em filled with dry fly enthusiasts. Last march we caught several browns around 22" on baetis dries and had shots at a couple 2 footers. Those big boys get super surface oriented as soon as they see the blue wings. Definitely my favorite dry fly month.

April and May are booking fast call now to reserve your dates!

See ya on the water!

River conditions...

..are back to normal. And fishing today was nothing short of spectacular. Got some days open, let's go.

Snowmelt?

The warm weather has triggered rapid snowmelt in the lower elevations causing area creeks to flood. So the river is pretty mucked up right now. But that didn't deter us from going fishing today.

Brooks and Luke came up from Lander and we just stayed above the mud for as long as my rowing arms could take it and we caught a buncha fish, had quite a few doubles, and despite the wind had awesome weather. I would love to have these guys in the boat again! Just good dudes all around...

Looks like all the snow below 6,000 feet has melted so the creeks oughtta not run much longer.  I'm thinking mid next week should see the river back to normal. But only time will tell.

Bighorn River, Wyoming - Winter Fishing Report

Off to a good start for the day

More cold and snow today and tomorrow. Looks like the weekend oughtta see temps over 40 degrees. Still eating the crap out of sow bugs.

Patrick with a nice rainbow

As of now I've only got Feb 12 and 17 on my books... so there's plenty of availability and we are still offering discounts even though it can be the best fishing of the year.

The warm weather didn't last very long....

...But we took advantage of it the last few days. And fishing was pretty good. Mostly sow bugs but getting a few on the worm a few on the scud and some midge and even a couple leech eaters. It's kinda like shooting fish in a barrel this time of year, just keep working those deep slow holes and when the bite stops...change it up.

Jeff with a fat slab out of the "Hog Hole"

April is filling in fast. Plenty of days open in March which is my favorite dry fly month. But from now thru February is a great time to rack up the body count on pre spawn rainbows. Give us a call and let's make a deal for cold weather fishing.

Bighorn River - Winter Fly Fishing Report - Thermopolis

Got some warmer air coming in this week,  highs in the 40s?

Alyssa is out on the coast chasing steelhead for the next month and has left me at the tying desk working on orders. But I'd like to be working on the river with this seemingly spring type weather. We are offering winter discounts... call for pricing and we'll make a deal.

I personally haven't been on the river in over a week, but last time I was out big sow bugs and/or Ray Charles in #16 and #14 were crushing it. Little red midge larva and black or olive pupas were showing up in stomach samples and the fish would eat em, but man they just keep hammering the sow bugs.

The river below Longwell is still pretty iced up, but everything else is open and should be fishing great. Flow out of Boysen is around 915cfs. Reservoir is 86% full and snow pack is around 150%? Good water year.

April bookings are starting to fill in and a few in March, but late January and February can provide some of the best catching all year! And since Alyssa is out of town we've got our very good friend Jeff Jennings (of Michigan legend and Montana lore) filling in on a couple trips ...might as well fish with the best...

First trip of the New year

Fished with Wheeler yesterday. It was cooooold. But the fishing turned out to be really good. Nymphing was consistent all day and we even had pretty good action on the streamer.

Looks like the temps warm up next week
C'mon out and shake off those shack nasties

Winter Fly Fishing on the Bighorn River, Thermopolis, Wyoming