Availability on the Bighorn

We still have a few rooms left on our 30th annual trip to the Bighorn River in August for what might be the most incredible dry fly fishing you've ever seen. In recent years the trico fishing has been amazing and we expect a repeat in 2017. Float the river in comfortable skiffs and get out to fish the productive runs, pools, and side channels. Check out the video clip. For prices, dates & details.

 

 

Featured Fly: Mayfly Spinners

Mayfly spinners are incredibly important to a fly fisherman who enjoys matching the hatch. The final stage of the adult mayfly mates in the air often high above the water until finally both male and females come to the waters surface and after egg laying by the females, both lay spent on the surface with their cellophane-like wings out to the side. Most of the spinner falls happen in the last hour or two of light and they can provide a feeding frenzy with trout quick to take advantage of the massive numbers of insects. Like most rules in fly fishing, there are exceptions though, for example the early morning trico spinner falls. But whenever you encounter a spinner fall you want to be prepared with a hatch matching imitation. 

We have two favorite spinner designs that we fish with. The first was made popular by the late Vincent Marino who believed that the spent hackle wing was the perfect imitation – and we agree on water that is flat and smooth. But on faster rougher water we like the poly wing spinner which floats better under those conditions. We offer both to imitate the major eastern hatches. Click here to go to our store.

 

Two-Handed Season

Are you a subscriber to the Sage blog? Two Handed Season is a beautiful piece written about, well – you guessed it – two handed rods. If you love steelhead season and this type of fishing (and even if you don't), I think you'll enjoy the story and the photographs. Oh, and don't forget to subscribe. You won't want to miss the next issue.

http://www.sageflyfish.com/two-handed-season

Urgent! The Bahamas Need Your Help TODAY

The Bahamas fishing destroyed?  

We desperately need your help TODAY to stop ridiculous legislation that could be passed TOMORROW. Please read.

http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=bff91a6f13d94a309ad9b3885&id=13332306ee&e=4b3a2c83ca

 

 

 

Thinking about a Montana Fishing Trip?

The just out Aug/Sept. issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine has a feature story from Barry & Cathy on their favorite western river, the Bighorn for full or partial stay. And, the best part? We still have space on the August departure to the 'Horn with the Becks. Get the details in our Hosted Trips

 

We'll have a recap on Iceland for you next week. Barry is still editing photos — and I'm seeing some great shots.

The Bighorn River has over 6,000 trout per mile, one of the most fertile, most productive, trout rivers in the country. In August the water levels are typically low and some of the best dry fishing of the year can be had here. It's a river of options — look for "heads" and fish dry flies, rack up numbers and fish nymphs, fish hoppers, throw streamers in the lower river, or mix it up. The days are long, the nights are cool, it's a very pleasant time to be on the river.  

Come with us in August and enjoy summer on the Bighorn at Kingfisher Lodge. There's nothing like it and you'll be so glad you did. August 22 - 29 or August 29 - Sept. 5. Complete details and prices are included in the itinerary. Call us or Denise at Frontiers (800-245-1950) if you have any questions. See you there!

 

View the trip details on our website

 

 

 

Barry wrote an interesting blog about his take on the Bighorn River.  The article recently appeared on RIO's website and I wanted to highlight it here so you all didn't miss it.  Click here to be directed to the RIO Blog.

 

Barry & Cathy are in Montana at Kingfisher Lodge this week.  We've heard great things about their past trips to the Bighorn and the photos are always stunning.  Cathy emailed this morning and here's what she shared with us here at the office.  Sounds like this year won't disappoint either!

"We're having a very unusual two weeks here on the Bighorn. Last week started out hot and sunny, typical for this time of year. Toward the end of the week though the weather turned cold, wet, and windy. We pulled out our fleece and down jackets. The mahogany spinners and tricos kept on coming and fishing was good despite the weather. Yesterday the sun showed and summer is coming back. 90 degrees is predicted before the end of the week. Lots of rising fish. It's a great time of year on the Bighorn!  -Cathy"

                          

 




We finished up our week on the Bighorn with more incredible dry fly fishing. The second week we had several mornings of trico fishing. Tricos are very small mayflies. We haven't seen trico hatches like this on the 'Horn for many years. We fished size 20 duns and spinners every morning to rising fish. Marc Bale from the Sage Rod Company joined us for a couple days and it was non-stop for a brief time every morning. We used the new Circa in 4 & 5 weight and it was the perfect rod for this kind of fishing. When the tricos stopped, the tan caddis began. What a week. We found the hatch one morning with Matt McMeans at the Corral and a couple days later with Marc in Sneider's channel. For those of you who know the Bighorn, you know how special this year has been on the river. And, we found that if we used RIO Powerflex 4x tippet, we wouldn't lose any fish.




We talked to a lot of anglers who were using 5x, but with 4x we still had plenty of fish take the fly. We would lose one now and then when they got down in the weeds but the hook pulled out, the leader didn't break.

This week we're off to Bolivia with a Frontiers group where we'll be fishing for Golden Dorado at Tsimane Fishing Lodges, located in the tropical Andes between Peru and Bolivia. What a change it will be to go from 4x and size 20 tricos on 4 & 5 weight rods to size 1/0 and 3/o Tarpon Snakes and Andino Deceivers on a 250 grain RIO Outbound Short and 8 & 9 weight rods!




I think I can safely say the mosquitoes might be bigger than the tricos, but the fishing will be fast and furious. We've got a great group of anglers joining us for what is sure to be an adventure. We'll let you know how it goes!