The Bighorn was running low and the fish were tough to find during our first visit to the river. We waded up from 3-mile access and after long hike involving mountain lions and losing a rod tip, we finally stumbled out to the river. We waded upriver and came upon a small island with big rainbows in a side channel. There were probably 20-25 bows all 18-22 inches, but they spooked easily. I picked out a larger male and within a couple of casts I was hooked up. The fish slammed by fly and took off up river. I was alone as Steve and Tim were still off looking for the rod tip, so I had to net the fish on my own. Finally the fish tired right before it reached the faster current and I was able to beach the fish. Steve popped out just in time to take a quick picture before releasing the fish. We fished the same area for the rest of the day, landing about 7-8 fish each, all rainbows near 20 inches. We decided to head up near the dam to try right where the river started. The river looked promising, but for whatever reason it didn't seem to hold fish. We spent a couple of hours fishing and didn't even manage a strike.

The second day we returned to the island and caught a couple more nice bows before crossing the river and fishing the far side. We fished the seems near the faster current and landed a couple more nice 18 bows. We also lost some nice fish in the 22-23 inch range. The fish all took off downriver into the moss and were able to get off when the moss got built up on the line. The trout were full of red midges, so a red larva midge was the best fly, but we also caught fish with pheasant tails and tan sow bugs. The lower water in recent years has hurt the fishing and the spawn hasn’t been very good the last two years. Most anglers averaged 1-5 fish a day, with 10 fish being outstanding. Oddly, we didn’t manage to catch a single brown trout in a river known for its big browns.