Saturday, March 20, 2010
Big Hole River Fishing Report
Travis with a fantastic Big Hole River Rainbow.
With the sun shining and the ice melted from the main river channel, we launched our boat at Brownes Bridge on the Big Hole with great anticipation. We were rewarded right away with 3 great brown trout directly across from the launch, and continued to catch fish regularly throughout the day. Stonefly nymphs in black and brown, ranging from size 10 to 6 was the bug of the day as Skwalla Nymphs begin to move around with the warmer water. San Juan Worms, Princes, Red Copper Johns, Red Ass, and PT’s were some other bugs rendered successful by many trout. The fish of the day was never landed as a healthy 20″ + brown busted off both flies on a mad dash for the heavy water. I did get to see him once and almost had him to the net only to get schooled by a veteran river warrior yet again. Oh well, I know where he lives and will be back to try my luck again. We did catch a nice Grayling right away for added enjoyment, and he was accompanied by many brown trout, a few rainbows, and even a cutthroat. The only fish we were missing for our Super Slam was the feisty brook trout. At the end of the float we were able to land a great rainbow. It is sure nice to see such healthy fish in a river that had been hit hard by drought over the past few years. This past years higher water helped tremendously, and we are now seeing the rewards of a healthy river system.
We have trips on the books for next week, and if the Big Hole fishes half as well then as it did for us this past Friday, we will be in for a treat. I am expecting the Skwalla hatch to get geared up in about 2-3 weeks. Should be a great spring!
Justin
