The Bighorn River in Montana presents the Fort Smith Fly Shop and Cabins and Bighorn River Guides for flyfishing float trips

Bighorn River Etiquette

Because of the increasing number of boats and wading fishermen, observation of the unwritten, local customs will help you and other fishermen have an enjoyable day.

Always respect the area around wading fishermen, give them a wide berth. They have the right of way.
When approaching bank fishermen while boating, notice how far out their lines are and stay clear.
While floating, if there is another boat nearby try and stay out of his area. Also, when passing a boat moving slower than yours, move out of his line of drift and go downstream 200-300 yards before coming back into his line of drift.

The Bighorn River is one of the most heavily fished streams in Montana. If fishermen are courteous and have a relaxed attitude the river will continue to offer a superb angling experience.

WINTER FISHING

I generally use boot foot waders in the winter because they are a lot warmer than stockingfoot waders. I also make sure that I get the boot foots that are a little larger in size than what I need, in order to wear extra clothing and socks under the waders. This also applies to stockingfoot and wading boots, even in the summer because as you know the water is very cold all year. If the boots are too tight, your feet will get cold.

Dry Fly Tip

The thing about dry fly fishing on the Bighorn is accuracy is imperative. You must get the fly upstream of the fish in its feeding lane with a slack line. Taking your time and being stealthy is also part of the equation. It is better to think about positioning yourself and how you will present the fly than to just get excited and start making multiple casts at multiple fish.

My suggestion is to get across from the fish or downstream and across and cast upstream of the fish with an upstream reach cast and let the fly drift drag free over the fish. Slack and accuracy are what catches fish on dries.

Fish Fighting Tactics

The fish are extremely healthy averaging 17-18 inches and tough hombres! Good fish fighting tactics are critical to landing fish on the Bighorn.

I have never seen so many fish lost as I have this year. This is attributable to both the size and tenacity of the trout and poor fish fighting and hooking techniques. The answer is to set the hook the moment that indicator does absolutely anything, and I mean anything! And set it with authority.

After that, point your rod butt at the sky and let the fish fight the full flex of the rod. Next is to point the rod downstream and make the fish fight the side pressure. That sounds pretty simple and it is but you have to watch the fish and react to what he is doing. You have to watch the fish, react to him, and use the current or lack thereof to your advantage. By that I mean make him fight the current and your rod as well as use the current to get him in. Keep him off balance.

Ted Williams (the baseball great) was quoted as saying, " The direction and angle of pressure is more important than the amount of pressure. You want that angle to be against their lateral line.

Winter Nymph Fishing

At times winter nymph fishing requires some different tactics. When the water temperature gets very cold, trout metabolism naturally slows down. This means that the fish don’t have to eat as much and when they do eat, they won't move very far for the fly. You have to put the fly right on their nose. Therefore, it is necessary to slow your drift down. We want the drift to be about one-half the current speed. You can accomplish this by adding more weight to your leader and by using a bigger strike indicator. Because the take will be subtle you will also have to adjust your indicator. The distance between your flies and the indicator should be about 30% greater than the depth of the water that you are fishing.

Two handed Strip ( No, it’s not anything sexual)

One of the more interesting techniques we have used is the two handed strip retrieve. By that we mean casting a streamer or streamers up and across, putting the rod under your arm and stripping smoothly and evenly hand over hand. Most tailwater trout never really learn to become good predators. There is so much food in the river that most browns and rainbows don’t learn to become predatory. Therefore, when a streamer is presented it should move in as straight a line as possible without herky-jerky movements. Give it a try and let me know how you do.

Tandem Flies

In my own personal fishing, I always use two flies, whether it be nymphing, streamer fishing, or dry fly fishing. The reasoning is two fold. The first is obviously to give the fish a choice of two different flies. The second is that the front fly is either an attractor or a strike indicator. Examples: With streamers, both a light fly and a dark fly or a big fly and a small fly can be used. With nymphs, the top fly can be used to get the attention of the fish while the bottom fly is the catcher. Dry flies, during a hatch use a Dun followed by an emerger or a spinner. Or use an attractor fly on top with a nymph dropper 4 to 12 inches under it. Experiment with this and you will come up with your own deadly combination.

Using Heavier Tippet

Catch and release fishing has a mortality rate from between 5 to 20 % on most rivers. The main cause for this is overplaying fish. Because we catch a lot of fish on the Bighorn, we try to speed up the process of landing and releasing fish. Therefore, we use as heavy a tippet as possible. By this we mean using 3x tippet in most nymphing situations.

For dries, we try to get away with 4x or 5x at the finest. For streamers, we use 15 lb. test to the fly. We have found that lighter tippet isn’t any more productive for the hard fighting rainbows and browns of the Bighorn. Of course, there are some exceptions, but they are few and far between.

Another reason for heavier tippets is to be able to put pressure on the fish and bring it in quickly. By this I mean, using tactics to gain leverage over the fish so that it can be brought in and released quickly. These tactics will be discussed in a future column.

Customizing Flies on the River

There are occasions on the water when you may not have the correct fly that the fish are feeding on. Many people don’t want to carry a fly tying kit with them while fishing. Something that you may want to carry are permanent marking pens and a small, sharp pair of scissors. These can be used to change color and or alter the shape of certain flies while on the stream. Examples would be trimming Dun wings, top and bottom to make a spinner. Or trimming an adult pattern to make it look like an emerger, floating nymph, or stillborn. Making a light elk hair caddis darker or into a yellow sally. Coloring a light colored streamer to make it dark, etc. It is amazing what you can do with a few snips and color changes.

flyfishing Montana's Bighorn River for trophy rainbow and brown trout

REPRINT OF MICHAEL'S ARTICLE IN HIGH COUNTRY ANGLER

Features

Fishing The Bighorn

High Country fishing doesn’t stop at the Colorado border. On the heels of a six-year draught, Montana’s Big Horn River is busting with monster trout.

By Michael Mastrangelo

The Bighorn River is a tailwater fishery located in the south central part of Montana 95 miles south of Billings and a 7-8 hour drive from Denver.

Many anglers believe this is one of the finest trout streams in the world.

The Yellowtail Dam, built in 1967, created the perfect trout habitat. Behind the dam is a 72 mile long lake in which limestone from the canyon walls leaches into the water to give the river the perfect PH and nutrients for producing large trout. It is essentially a big spring creek in both clarity, vegetation, and demanding trout.

In the past, the Bighorn was known as a place to catch 30-40 Browns and Rainbows per day. Due to the six-year drought in the Rocky Mountain area, the fishing has changed. Instead of catching many trout in the 15-16 inch range, we are catching less in numbers but bigger trout in the 18+ inch range, with many over 20 inches. There have been several trout caught in the 26 to 28 inch range this year. The river flow is averaging 1300 cfs.

Over the years the river was all things to all people. A beginner could come and catch fish and the experienced angler could find challenging fish. Now the Bighorn has become a technical, site fishing river for both nymphing and dry fly fishing. Since the low water the Bighorn has become a trophy trout fishery and I don’t recommend people come here without hiring a guide. I have witnessed unguided anglers struggling on the river, while my clients are catching many big browns and rainbows. The reason for this is big fish don’t become big by being stupid. They have to survive in low, clear, cold water with many predators, including anglers.

When an angler is not stealthy, wading too deep, making sloppy casts, ripping their line off the water, or not getting a dead drift with proper mends they won’t catch fish. The angler that is willing to be a hunter and presents the flies well will be rewarded. That is why I recommend a guide, to locate fish and facilitate fly selection and techniques that will work.

Tackle selection: 8-9 ft., 4-6 wt. Rod, good reel with reliable drag. Weight forward floating line. For nymphing – 9-12 ft. leaders to 4 or 5x. I use Fluorocarbon in slower water, in 4-5x on the flies.

For dry fly fishing I use 16-20 ft. leaders tapering to 4x or 5x. The reason for this long leader is to keep the fly line away from the fish. If the trout see the line, they won’t eat. You need a variety of aerial mends in your casts in order to present the fly first to the fish. If they see the leader, tippet, or any drag, even micro-drag, they won’t eat your fly. To combat this you have to get slack into your system. The best presentations are accomplished by positioning yourself almost directly downstream of the fish or downstream and slightly to the side of the fish. Good casting technique is imperative. On the forward cast, you must come to a complete, hard stop. The reason for this is the hard stop will straighten out the leader, and it will bounce back a little and give you slack in the leader. Another necessary tactic is to lead the trout with your fly at least 5 or 6 feet. You must remember that where you see the fish rise is not necessarily where its position is. The way they take is to see the fly coming at them (in their lane), look at it closely, and drift back with the fly a few feet, and then eat it. Always lead the fish.

When nymphing, presentation is key as well. If you spot a fish, determine if he is feeding. That would be if he is moving side to side, up or down, and opening its’ mouth. Think before you make that first cast. You must get the best position on him in order to be successful. There is an old saying that I like, “cast less and catch more fish.”

The key question you must ask yourself is “What is the best position to cast from where I can get the fly down to the fish without drag?” Sometimes your position will be upstream, downstream, or across from the fish. It also depends on how spooky the trout is. If you can see the fish it is best to make the presentation without a strike indicator. These fish will run from an indicator at times. Grease the end of your fly line so it will float and either watch that for any movement, speed up, or slow down, hesitation etc. or watch the fish for movement when your fly is near. Set the hook with authority and raise your rod and keep it there (vertical). These fish will generally make a big run either across or downstream. On this first run do not try to stop him, just slow him down. Any stopping of the line with these fish will result in a break off. During his initial run you want to walk downstream of him with your rod raised high (90 degrees vertical) and get downstream of the fish’s position. This allows you to leverage him out of the current and into the bank for landing. You use rod angle to fight the fish. That is why it is called angling. I have a quote of Ted Williams, the baseball great on my web site, he says, “ the direction and angle of pressure is more important than the amount of pressure. Put pressure against their lateral line.”

If you don’t move with these fish, chances are you won’t land them, or you will extend the fight and probably kill the fish. These fish are like steelhead, I call them Super Trout and they fight to the death. The techniques I have developed will help you land your fish quickly and give them a fast, healthy release.

The Bighorn is not for everyone. But if your goal is to catch wild, 18-24 inch rainbows and browns with the chance to catch the trout of a lifetime, you should come and give it a try.

About the Author

Michael Mastrangelo has been fishing the Bighorn River since 1985 and is the Outfitter for the Fort Smith Fly Shop and Cabins for the past 7 years. Michael has recently been elected as President of the Bighorn River Alliance, a non-profit organization to enhance, protect and preserve the Bighorn River. Michael can be contacted by mail at PO Box 7872, Fort Smith, MT 59035, by phone at 406-666-2550 or by email at michael@flyfishingthebighorn.com. or visit their website at www.flyfishingthebighorn.com

Extraordinary Sunsets over The Big Horn View from our cabins at sunset

Montana Sunsets Light Up the Skies

The Bighorn River

The Bighorn River is arguably the finest trout stream for flyfishing in Montana if not the world. Big Sky Country, long summer days, cool, clear starry nights and plenty of big trout. There are many great fishing lodges throughout Montana , but the Fort Smith Fly Shop and Cabins has the finest accommodations on the fabulous Bighorn River . If you are looking to catch big, wild, powerful trout that will take you into your backing, the Bighorn is the place for you.

Fort Smith is a small, former cavalry outpost nestled in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains . Ground zero for the Bighorn River .

We specialize in guided fishing floats on the Bighorn. We provide the most personalized service of any shop in Fort Smith .

For the time of your life, come float the beautiful Bighorn River with Michael or one of our experienced guides..