Bighorn Spring Trip - Day 2

Thursday March 12th, weather was somewhat more friendly than Day 1. Winds became discouraging occasionally during the morning. Over all it wasn't too bad.

Fishing was again mix of everything: methods, flies, and bites. I caught 3 whitefish!! (no pics).
Jared hauling in a nice trout at one of channels just below "Bay of Pigs".

It seemed lunch was again out turning point. What's today's special?

"Guide Dog #2 = Chilly Dog"!! Of course, chilly contained extra burgers. This is the real guide lunch. Nobody goes hungry on the river with me.

We felt better. It must be time to feed trout. Shortly after, we spotted a group of rising trout after trout!! They were feeding on midges!!

We both took several trout each, along with many more near-misses!!

As some claims, hatch fishing at Bighorn can resemble the condition at spring creeks. Flies I developed for Livingston's spring creeks just work - which I know with big confidence.
Midge APE

Foam Emerger Type 1

Pupaerger.

HOWEVER!! following pictures of my stomach pump results will rock your vision. Even disturbing. Definitely unbelievable as we felt. Watch carefully what we found.

Beetles!! Baetis!!
Although we took many trout with midge flies and we knew we were doing right things, where these bugs came from? Actually while I was tying on midge flies, before our first catch, something hit my face. Looking back, it was one of those beetles above. As pictures show, those beetles and baetis should not have been from the day before. It had to be sometime just before we got there. Who knows? It was quite a learning & observing experience. We ended up fishing for rising trout for two hours!

It was a warmer day so we started streamer fishing, guessing water temp must have been up, a bit earlier than Day 1. We got a few bites but not as red-hot as Day 1. We took my boat out almost 7pm. That means we drove back to Livingston/Bozeman very late.

It was a great trip with my guide friend. As much as we just wanted to enjoy fishing, my objective = learning & observing the Bighorn = was achieved very efficiently as I was with Jared, who is a very good guide.

Bighorn is definitely a year-around fishery. Dry-fly, nymph, streamer, and Hot lunch!! if you want to experience all at Bighorn, come & join my trips!