The Fabulous Bighorn
To borrow a title from the video of the same name that Jason and I produced in 1986, this year it really is “The Fabulous Bighorn.” From an earlier report that I had from Chuck Furimsky, I knew it was going to be a great year on the ‘Horn, but it turned out to be the best it has been in many years. Guides and others fishing the ‘Horn this year all rave about the numbers and sizes of the fish they have been catching. Drift fishers are taking 100 fish a day per boat, with many more lost. And the size is extraordinary.
John Beth and his friends fished the ‘Horn this past week and found every tale to be fact. In fact, John took so many fish in the 17 to 20 inch size that he didn’t even shoot any photographs. That what I call jaded! When the fish are coming every other cast to both nymphs and dries, when there are pods of fish up and chomping, when the average size is 18 ½ inches with plenty of 20 inch fish tossed in, it’s easy to see how one could come to think that such fishing is the norm. Believe me it certainly is not!
If you have a chance to get to the river before it’s so cold that your fingers won’t work anymore, then by all means go and enjoy this extraordinarily exceptional year.
John Beth with “just another average rainbow” from the Bighorn.
Our mutual friend, “Doc” Zavadsky with a healthy 20 incher.