The Bighorn has 7000 fish per mile in the upper section. I read this on a Montana state publication. I have no idea if this is true but I know the quality and the quantity of this fishery presents the angler with a fantastic learning environment. The pressure to catch fish is gone. I have been landing twenty to forty fish per day. The river's Brown and Rainbow trout are everywhere. They are not howerver - no brainer hatchery fish. These wild trout were born on the gravel beds of the Bighorn and can be very challenging. My goal when I fish here is to improve my skills . I am always trying new tactics. The fish provide instant feedback on presentation and fly selection. I know I am messing up when I present my flies to five or ten feeding fish with zero takers . The learning environment allows you to alter your tactics until eventually you get it right and then test the results on subsequent days. Yesterday the Trico spinner fall was a learning event or me.



The day was warm mild and calm. The Tricos were everywhere. I fished a size 20 Trico dun with an over sized white cdc wing as an indicator and a size 22 poly trico spinner attached to the bend of the hook with three feet of 5x. I caught some fish and was happy that I had not totally forgot how to dry fly fish. The spinner fall progressed for some time. I got to this water and decided to try something diferent.



The fish were crowded into this very small area . They were porpoising for Trico spinners in about ten inches of water.


I took out the Loop rod with the Euro rig to see if I could get these fish on a drowned Trico dropper. I had a sized 14 bead head in the bottom anchor position and a size twenty black bead head as the dropper. This presentation was a total and complete failure. After about twenty casts and not even a nudge I began to wonder if I could pull this off. I switched my rigging to a size 16 anchor with a 2.4 mm bead in the upper position and tied on an unweighted size twenty black Trico thirty inches below
the anchor. Instant reward. I landed five or six fish in about twenty minutes. The spinner fall subsided and the fish retreated to deeper water. I am sure a good dry fly fishermen could have caught many more
fish the traditional way but I had fun trying something new for me.