This spring feels cut short as April remained cold until middle of the month. At the end of the month, area rivers started to rise and colored up with annual runoffs (and in between, we were on the road, as I've reported). Mother's Day Caddis wasn't much talked along Yellowstone River. Perhaps some on Lower Madison. I wouldn't recommend to float Yellowstone River when it's transforming. Look for and fish the hatch from the bank, which are plenty. Lakes and ponds are great options, indeed their prime time, at this time of year (public or within private lands). If you are still craving for fishing on the streams, try, as always, Livingston's spring creeks and then look for dam-managed streams, which are none to very little effect of runoff.
I had a good tip from a good friend of mine😏and wifey 🤰 was willing to go, so we went fishing for something different from usual. I strongly believe trout is NOT the only species that can be caught with flies and fly-rods. Warm-water species in Montana DO offer us great actions, and most importantly they are fun to catch😁❗❗
Huge bass are active right now as they are just in and out of spawning phases😏
Renee did some of her best tricks and won a trophy🏆😲👏
We are "imprinting" the inside junior👶for his fishing sense. We are sure he's feeling and listening😁
I didn't have good opportunities but finally I did it right
This was the very satisfying bluegill😎
Actions went into later afternoon, until storms hit the area.
During East Idaho Fly Tying Expo the other day, I was able to visit some tyers who were demonstrating bass flies and pike flies. Whether I fish those species a lot or not, I can definitely use some techniques I learned.
I strongly encourage people to look for and fish for different species when opportunities arise. That will hone us to fish anytime and anywhere. Learning fly patterns for those species will definitely improve your trout flies too. Over all, it's super fun😄
UPDATE & FORECAST
Spring runoff is in full-swing in area rivers. We all know most of Western states have had severe winter with lots of snow accumulations. This is the frustrating period in terms of fishing options under gorgeous spring/early summer weathers, but over all this is an important event for rivers' health and our fishing through summer.
I wouldn't predict anything for Yellowstone River at this point. Still lots of snow in Yellowstone National Park, of which weather can be unpredictable. I usually have some ideas by the end of June as I commute to guide at Livingston's spring creeks. Keep your eyes on the changes on USGS website = Not only Yellowstone River but also Soda Butte Creek, Lamar River, and Gardner River. For visual observations, I keep you posted from here.
Looks like we can be optimistic for Bighorn River this year, after some turmoils and unusual conditions of last year (again, fishing was excellent for those who had accurate info and who did show up). This year, Bureau of Reclamation's management seems working for every party's interest at this point. Actually I wish the spring flow would have been somewhat smaller for excellent dry-fly fishing but it was alright (I reported last month). And thanks to fore-thinking reservoir release early in the year, there is plenty of room to accommodate runoff water from both Montana and Wyoming. Keep checking this website and click Bighorn Lake, in which Inflow = runoff basically & Outflow = Bighorn flow that we fish. I would expect we still see some high flows during the peak of runoff = June, perhaps = but we can anticipate summer flows wouldn't be as crazy as last year, so now is the time start booking guide trips for July, August, and September!!
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Then here comes our story along Wyoming's Bighorn from the other day............
Immediately after a trip to Idaho Falls, we headed to Laramie, WY for some other businesses. I have passed Wyoming many times, just like the route we took on the way, but on the way back, I was able to see and feel more of Wyoming intimately for the first time.
Over all Wyoming is still cold, dry, and full of desolated lands😂, we were able to visit and see some of landmarks and special features that have been on our "someday" list.
We headed to Thermopolis. Along the way, we passed Boysen Reservoir, Wind River Canyon, and Wedding of The River = all the upper sources of Bighorn River. We stopped by Hot Spring State Park. It rivals to Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone Park😲. We saw something very particular and "fishy"😏 Seeing is believing, folks😉
We then reached to Lovell. At just outskirt of this small cozy town, we can see the upper portion of Bighorn Lake/Reservoir.
We also knew that we were close to Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Refuge. After we collected information from a nice lady at the visitor center, also in Lovell, we might as well have made a detour. Now we were in the middle of Bighorn Canyon - we have not been from Montana side yet. It was immense😲😎
Then just as the lady told us, we spotted wild horses🐎🐎😲
And this is the level, as of our visit 4/26, at Horseshoe Marina.
Perhaps our last trip while we are still two of us🤰👫⇨👪
We enjoyed another road trip to our neighbor state. We hope to explore more😉