Hi families!
The Montana Road Trip has been staying cool throughout the hottest of Montana summer heat wave days! We have been having a blast here in Fort Smith on the Bighorn, camping at the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The sun has been out and it has been strong! We have been combating the triple digit heat with late wake ups in the morning, letting other guide outfits flush out of the river and allowing up to get on the river late morning to have the river more or less to ourselves. It's hot, but luckily we have the coldest water to be found in Montana, flowing right out of the bottom of the massive Yellowtail Dam where the water hovers around a cool 50-55 degrees. Frequent dips and floats in the water to cool off between fishing has been a huge hit among the guys. Staying wet paired with some riverside snacks like some nice cool watermelon -- we're doing pretty good!
The fishing has been outstanding here with some of the most prolific hatches anybody has ever seen before, even people who have fished this river for years have never seen hatches this good. The pmds (pale morning dunn, a mayfly) have had blanket hatches every afternoon with fish extremely keyed-in on surface water flies, which makes for some very fun fishing. As evening approaches the caddis show up and coat everything on the water especially the boats! The river turns to a boil as fish rise all around us and happily eat our dry flys!
The Bighorn has been a great spot for us on this trip because we have had the chance to expose everybody to many different styles of fishing. Everybody has gotten a chance to float and fish out of a hard boat and see how awesome it is to cover water and explore while moving with the river. In addition, the Bighorn offers some excellent wade fishing opportunities, providing a chance for everybody to get out, cool off and work the water by themselves and really get comfortable and confident exploring the water -- wading, casting, and finding fish on their own building their knowledge, skills, and confidence.
All the guys have caught very nice fish and had a blast on the river. With two riverside brat and caesar salad dinners and some sunset floats, everybody has had a great time exploring the amazing scenery, environments, and fishing Montana has to offer. Tomorrow we will do one more morning float on the Bighorn before we head back west to Paradise Valley. On Saturday we will float the Yellowstone River in the valley before heading back to our basecamp in Ennis to clean and organize all our gear before packing up for the end of the trip.
It's been an awesome few days. The group's energy is great -- they're eager to get out there, laughing lots, and catching great fish. Until next time...
Tight lines,
The guides and the guys
