Just returned from the Bighorn a few days ago. This was my first trip and I had a blast! We did well everyday with yellow sally nymphs and gray ray charles 18. We were on fish so we never switched it up much. Being fairly new to fly fishing we supposively missed one of the best bwo hatches many guides had ever seen. We attempted to catch them on dries but not being knowledgeable in them put a damper on that. We tried hoppers for an hour or so one day with no luck. The last day we did well on small PT flashback. The algae sucks but you adapt to it. The furter downstream you get the worse it is. All in all we had fun now its time to plan for next years trip. I did follow a guy down the river at the end of our last day that was using PMD nymphs and hooked up every 50 yds or so. Hope I was somewhat of a help to the guys heading out soon.

Thx for the good report. Heading out there till after labor day. Mostly fishing the Madison and some Idaho streams, but stopping for a day on the Bighorn is always a good way to end the trip.

greenhead wrote;

" Being fairly new to fly fishing we supposively missed one of the best bwo hatches many guides had ever seen"

Are you sure those mayflies were Baetis (BWO's) I've fished the Big Horn many times in July and early August and there was never any BWO's on the water. Only PMD's, Tricos, and black caddis in the evenings.

I do know the BH gets Baetis in April and again in October. I've also heard that the water is much colder now than it was when I used to fish there so I guess it is possible that the Baetis are now emerging at an entirely different time than they did historically.

Thanks for the report Greenhead. Much appreciated. I'll be there second week of September. I can hardly wait.

I'm reading reports that the olive hatch (BlueWingedOlive) that normally tapers off in June has just kept going this summer.

Yep, Greenhead is right. The olives were still on big time when we were out in early July and friends of ours that live out there confirm that they are still around all of July and last week. Glad u had a good trip Justin! I hope the info I passed along was useful.

Thanks TB! Couldn't have done it without all of ur info and guidance!

Wbranch,

The spring baetis never stopped on the upper three. 4 straight insane water years, followed by a ridiculously cold normal release year probably contributed to it.

For what it's worth, I am under the impression that our summer "sulphur" is also a baetis, just lightly colored. Not sure if that's actually correct, but the distinction is irrelevant to catching fish. I don't know if it hatches on the horn, but I'm sure you have seen them in the spring creeks, and would probably know more about them than I do.

Jay,
Good to hear from you. Hope things are going well and you're getting out on the water this summer. Sounds like you've become pretty familiar with the bugs out there.

All of the bugs are made of foam and have rubber legs, actually. It surprised me.

I even found another tiny little trickle with unstable banks and a ton of nice fish. I'll be keeping my mouth shut about this one. LOL