Orange Colored Scuds on the Bighorn River

Wednesday we woke up to snow.  The snow continued so we postponed that day’s float until Friday. Spending some time at the lodge we discussed with the guides what flies had been working lately.  Would you believe - an orange scud?  I had checked for scuds in the river and they were dark grey or dark brown. This was what I was using when I caught the previous day’s first brown trout.  I didn’t see any orange scuds in the river…or even pink for that matter.  Of course, we ended up buying a bunch of the orange colored scuds. 

We headed out in the afternoon to try our luck with these. 

 We went to 3-mile access where we knew we could do some wade fishing around the islands we fished the day before.  Wouldn’t you know, we each caught fish on the orange scuds.  

 Little Nick caught the first one – a big carp. 

Then we all caught trout and the orange scuds seemed to do their magic.  

Reading back through Steve Galletta’s Fly Fishing the Bighorn River book, I do see mention of the importance of orange scud patterns, possibly because they turn orange when they die or shed their exoskeleton. 

This snowy day actually ended up being our most successful day with each of us catching at least one good fish, and we were only out about 2 hours in the afternoon.

 The rest of the day we played cards, which lil’ Nick won, watched the movies Jaws and Jurassic Park, as well the MLB playoffs.

The accommodations from Bighorn Angler, the lodge, delicious meals, comfortable beds and able to have a nice warm shower at the end of a day fishing sure made an otherwise cold and snowy trip, a wonderful experience.

Thursday we decided to float from 3-mile Access to Bighorn Access, a 10-mile float. 

 This was a pretty float.

The weather was nice but cold.  

We had to get out at times and have little Nick stretch his legs and stand in the water that was warmer than the air, to warm his feet. The orange scuds, however did not perform their magic. Nick was the only one who caught fish on this stretch, including a nice rainbow on a streamer. Friday had even better weather and we floated from Afterbay to 3-Mile Access again.  

We stopped at a small island that looked perfect.  Rocky riffles tumbling into deeper water for long distances and another small fork of the river dividing the island creating even more structure. Surprisingly we didn’t even get a bite.  

The highlight for me was when Nick was rowing, keeping the boat at the perfect distance from shore to allow me to spend time streamer fishing.  In the short time we were able to do this, I had three visible hits.  Seeing these larger browns dart out of the shallows and hit a streamer is unforgettable. We again spent time fishing at the islands near 3-Mile Access.  

Nick was able to manage catching a couple nice ones here. 

It always amazed me how the best fishing of the entire trip was at 3-Mile where we could access the river and islands without a boat.

Since we postponed our Wednesday float until Friday, we needed to leave right after that day’s float.  Pete at the lodge allowed us to vacate the room after we got back from the float.  We then drove to Nick’s sister’s again to stay the night.  Since it was Nick’s birthday, I took everyone out to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate. The most exciting part was seeing Nick sit on the birthday saddle while everyone sang happy birthday.  Staying at Sarah’s house sure made this a pleasant trip home.  It split up the drive and we were able to spend more time with Sarah’s family, not to mention enjoying the wonderful breakfast Sarah cooked for us.

October Fly Fishing on the Bighorn River

Since the weather last spring during the last week of May was so cold and wet, I thought for sure we’d have a nice fall, maybe even an Indian summer.  No such luck.  The first week of October, which is usually my favorite time to be out on the water, had unseasonably cold, wet weather – even snow.

I met my son-in-law Nick and grandson Nick (if they were from New York I would have just said the New York Nicks) on Monday at Nick’s sister’s house in Casper Wyoming.  They had spent the night there after a 20 hour drive from their home in Cincinnati.  Sarah and Rob have a wonderful house - and what a great location! The North Platte runs right through Casper.  On the drive I noticed many sportsman’s access points just before Casper.  We discussed how we would have to take advantage of visiting them and spend time on the North Platte.  It has been a few years since we had a guided trip on the North Platte.

We reached the Bighorn Angler shop in Ft. Smith at 6:45 PM.  The note on the door gave directions to our lodge and indicated that dinner was at 7:00.  

I’m glad my wife had given us this trip for both our birthdays. Otherwise, we’d be setting up a tent in the cold wind rather than heading into the warm cafeteria with dinner waiting.

On Tuesday the weather was nice (no snow and above freezing).  We had a drift boat rented from Bighorn Angler for the week. This rental includes launching the boat, the shuttle and sack lunch. We had them launch the boat at the dam so we could float from Afterbay to 3-mile Access.

We rowed across the river and spent considerable time fishing the first stretch were the guides usually take their clients.  

This entails drifting while fishing this 300 yard stretch, then rowing over to the calm water near shore and rowing back up river, repeated several times.

Catching a fish or two on each drift ensures their clients start the day having caught a few trout and having the skunk out of the boat.  We indeed hooked a few here and I thought we would have a successful day based on that.  

At the islands just before 3-mile Nick pulled the boat over so we could get out and wade fish.  

This location had some great looking water but still the fish would not bite.

It ended up being a tough day of fishing just like the guides back at the shop said they’d been having lately.  

Guess what we woke up to the next day???

A Week Fly Fishing the Bighorn River in Montana, The Rest of the Week

Wednesday we floated the stretch from the dam all the way to Bighorn Access. 

The last couple of miles I was able to streamer fish.  

This was great looking water but, as the guide said, it was just too cold of water for the fish to be interested in chasing a streamer. 

It rained hard for about a half hour in the afternoon and we could see one of the feeder streams muddying up the right side of the river.  

Because of this, on Thursday we floated the first 3 miles below the Yellowtail Dam twice.  

We stopped and fished one stretch of river, which is particularly good for wading.  

I caught a couple nice trout and then Ron caught a swallow. 

It wasn’t known if the swallow was going for the nymph during the cast or if it got caught in the line.  

Scott was able to unwrap the line tangled around the bird and then take out the fly.  

He and Ron placed the bird on shore in the grass and kept an eye on it until it wasn’t there anymore and must have flown away.  

This was a great river for bird watchers. 

Ron was able to find two species he had never seen before.

The river was noticeably less crowded the second float through in the afternoon.  

Scott noticed risers in the afternoon and had me cast to those.  

This was probably the most fun part of the week for me. I caught both risers right off the bat.  

It had been a year since I had fished a dry fly and this gave me a sense of accomplishment, that I had not lost my touch.

 On Friday, we planned to float the entire 13 miles from the dam to Bighorn Access. 

We started catching a few trout on nymphs but at lunchtime, Scott noticed risers in the calm water just before the 3-mile access.  

We decided to take turns fishing dries while the other ate lunch.  The good dry fly fishing continued until it was late in the afternoon. 

Scott texted the shuttle company and had them move the truck to the takeout at 3-mile access. Excellent dry fly fishing was a great way to end the week. 

Overall, we ended up catching 10 to 15 trout (rainbows and browns) each per day between 14 and 20 inches long with many in the 18 to 19 inch range. 

The more overcast the day, the better the fishing.    

We caught five species of fish, including suckers and white fish. 

Something I learned was that suckers have a slime that gets on anything it touches. 

You have to physically scrape the slime off if it gets on the leader.  

It will not just dissolve or come off in the water.  There is also a lot of moss in the river.  One method to remove it from your flies is performing the “Bighorn Slap”.  This is where you twirl your line in the air and cause the flies with the moss to hit the water several times, thus removing the moss.

The guide, Scott, showed us all the aspects of an excellent guide.  

Super experienced on this specific river and understanding all the nuances the river and fish go through. 

He was very personable and a joy to spend time with, even able to discuss bird species with Ron.   

Besides being knowledgeable, he was always willing to try something different and continue to change flies.  

He put in extra effort by continuing to put in one more row back up the run and pass back through even if it was after 4:30 and cold and windy.  

You could tell he was genuinely interested in us catching fish.

All in all, this was a great trip that I would highly recommend.