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Better Bighorn Browns and Backcasts

© Louis Bignami

There Bighorn evolves from a mountain stream out of Wyoming's Boysen Reservoir into a typically meandering Great Plains warm water fishery above its mouth near aptly named Bighorn, Montana, but Bighorn River below Yellowtail Dam define the high plains along the sage and alfalfa.

The key area, and clearly crowded weekends and summers, is doubtless the 12 or so mile section of tailwater below the Afterbay Dam that remains stable all year where trout average 15 inches a day. The key approach for browns, at least, if fishing before and after the sun is on the water and at night.

While this is an excellent float if you don't mind sharing it with 100 or 150 boats and rafts, don't overlook the next stretch down to Two Leggins Access site and, at least until June, the stretch to the Yellowstone that gets almost no angling pressure as most consider it a bass fishery. All of these sections suit canoes as there's no real whitewater and you can more easily portage irrigation dams. Inflatable kayaks work in the upper two sections, but are a pain on windy days out on the plains.

Dam to Bighorn Access Site

Fish this stretch during the week right now and you can hit the 4,000 or so trout per mile before the bumper rafts of July and August. We like to pull out and try big streamers on heavy leaders in the roots of cottonwoods that frequently fall into the river.

Tip: if there's a big crowd skip the Afterbay Dam and put in three miles downstream at the National Park Service Lind Ranch Access.

The BWO hatch will be on from about 11 o'clock until three or so and my favorite Parachute Adams does the job. So do traditional Hare's Ear and Pheasant Tail Nymphs in sizes down to 20 and the ubiquitous San Juan Worm.

However, by the time the stoneflies hatch in July rafts blanket the river and you need to start at dawn to get down to the action early. Expect five to seven browns per rainbow too.

Bighorn Access Site to Two Leggins Access

This gets a third of the pressure as the upper stretch so there are probably more trout per rafter. It's also nearly 20 miles so some locals row the upper ten miles that get most of the pressure and concentrate on the lower end where angling is usually rushed.

There's an odd deal here as after you leave St. Xavier Access Site you can fish 15 miles to the takeout on the Crow Indian Reservation without a tribal permit, but don't expect much in the way of shore access. The percentage of browns goes up here so switch to big streamers along undercut banks and sink them in holes.