Bighorn Trico - When The Legend Becomes The Reality

I came back from a week-long guide trip on the legendary Bighorn River. I brought back so many good memories, experiences, observational notes, and homework for next season on my sore body. My clients and I fished literally from dawn to dusk. We hit the legendary Trico hatch & spinner falls just at right period. My experience on Yellowstone River = rowing the drift-boat and reading water = and Livingston's spring creeks = match-the-hatch and all the fine techniques and adjustments = help myself adjust quickly to this river: of course fishing methods and fly selection to catch trout, but also what other anglers/guides do on this particular river during this particular period of year. Over all we fished for hatches & spinner falls with dry-flies all day long and all through the trip, then we caught so many trout. Without exaggeration, no other rivers in the world produce this much insect hatches and number of rising trout. And those trout are in very good sizes and conditions.

Below, pictures will tell you stories & scenes. I may insert technical comments here and there.

September 3rd, as I checked in the area, I wade-fished for a few hours in the afternoon. I didn't catch anything but insect observation was interesting as always and the anticipation for next several days was getting high.

From the next day, the official trip kicked off!
Oh yeah, on this river and for this hatch, everyone was early risers😪!!

Trico female.

Million bugs occupied the sky at the height of spinner flight & falls😲

Eastern Montana sky was smoky because of wildfires all over the state😿.

Bighorn Tarpon😂

 We must have some of few anglers/boats on the river who constantly picked up dry-fly actions in the afternoon😏

Evening Black Caddis was very exciting😎

Each morning was new beginning🌅

My highlight of the trip: Trico Double 😎😁👏👏

 Evening again.

My wader was infested by caddis eggs😨

That was the moon over Afterbay Dam😴🙀

 We had some neighborhood fishers😲😉

 Can you spot a beaver?

It was not just Trico or caddis that were mating, flying ants were also making their mating flight.

 Every morning my boat etc were covered by Trico.

Sep 10th, our last day was the most productive!
I was able to capture the scene😎, starting at 6:58AM
In this slightly less than 3 minutes footage, how many rises can you count?

We caught some nice ones.

The last evening.......

The last trout of the trip, well-done😎👌👏

Oh what a trip😌
Bighorn - where the legend still remains and the dreams come true.
Bighorn is my go-to destination, along with Livingston's spring creeks, Yellowstone River, and Yellowstone National Park. All the fly-fishers who are thinking of future trips should consider the Bighorn (there will be a more detailed information page coming up soon!).