August 18, 2010
Bighorn River Fishing Report – Ft Smith
Ed with a beautiful Bighorn River Brown Trout
Tight Line Adventures now has an operation on the Bighorn River with under the guidance of Tight Line Adventures guides Nic Jovanovich and Scott Adamson. TLA regulars Ed Wilson and George Miller traveled over to the Bighorn from Dillon to fish this month for their first taste of this prolific tailwater. They traveled on the 4th and fished a couple of public wade in spots on the Yellowstone to keep the trip interesting and actually caught a few fish on the storied Yellowstone. In Montana, one is never far away from a fishing opportunity. They stayed at the Super 8 motel in Hardin which is on the fringe of the Crow Reservation. On August 5, they fished with Nic who picked them up at the hotel for an early start….like 7 AM!! They launched at the access below the dam near Ft. Smith and floated about 12 miles to the Bighorn take out. The Bighorn fishes a lot like the Beaverhead and if one chooses to nymph, the same rig and bugs work and the fish are plentiful and strong. However, they were there for hopper fishing and while admittedly they dredged up a few on the nymph rig they threw the big bugs most of the trip. Fish were found in the shallow riffles and shoals…not along the grass banks where we expected them to be hanging out looking for the stray hopper. A little time was wasted initially pounding the banks before they figured out where the fish were. These fish wanted the hopper and in the fast water they had little time to make a decision and the takes were violent and exciting. There was a prolonged hatch of black caddis so they occasionally trailed a size 18 caddis behind the hopper and got several fish to take the little fly.
George with a Rainbow on a classic hopper take.
On the 6th they fished with Scott and floated the same stretch and had the same experience. The fish were still in the fast, shallow water and were hammering the hopper and caddis combination. They probably netted 25 fish each day which was certainly less than half of the takes so the action was steady. Weather was bright and sunny and the water clear and the fish could see the boat from distance so the angler in the front had a distinct advantage. Back boat guy resorted to streamers when his action slowed and the fish took the streamer also. TLA’s Bighorn operation is first class and Nic and Scott are a lot of fun, work hard, and are determined to put you on fish. We highly recommend this trip. Our guess is that fall fishing on the Bighorn will be really spectacular; we will go back.
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Thank you Scott and Nic for doing such a great job with these guys.