Bighorn River

GAGE LOCATION

DAY/YEAR
GRAPHS

CURRENT
STAGE/FLOW

WHAT TIME

Bighorn near St. Xavier

7 30 year

60.58 / 2750

11 pm Yest.

Bighorn above Tullock Ck

7 30 year

2.07 / 3110

11 pm Yest.

Little Bighorn near Hardin

7 30 year

/

N/A

CITY

Fort Smith

NOAA

Accuweather

TWC

HATCH

NYMPH/
LARVA

PUPA/
EMERGER

DUN/
ADULT

EGG-
LAYER

Blue-winged olive

Green caddis

Golden stonefly

Salmonfly

Cranefly

Midge

Scud

Sculpin

Baitfish

Sowbug

The Bighorn is one of the best winter options in Montana because it's a tailwater fishery and fishes like a spring creek. You'll find hatches of blue-winged olives and midges, but much of the action will be subsurface. Nymph patterns such as size 18-20 Pheasant Tails, Copper Johns, and midge larva imitations should do well when drifted near the bottom.

Use an adjustable indicator system and set the indicator-to-fly length at two to two-and-a-half times the water depth. Adjust it for each place you fish. As the water cools down, you'll find trout in slower water because their metabolism is adjusting to the cooler environment.

In addition to nymph patterns, pink sow bugs are a good choice. Egg Flies can work well on rainbow trout as the river's brown trout start to spawn. A sink-tip line with a streamer can be productive.

Under no circumstances should you target actively spawning browns. Spawning redds are in gravelly areas; you'll see concentrations of fish over gravel that has been swept clean of algae and debris. Don't walk through them, anchor over them, or try to catch the trout that are there.

For more on November tactics and flies, see the Rivers in General report.