Bighorn River

Headed west with the boys for a 5-day fishing trip to the Bighorn River in south-central Montana. It was a relatively short time for the 1700-mile round trip, but the water was up on the river, and my guide assured me we'd get the boys on some big Bighorn browns and rainbows.

We started out Friday afternoon right off of their last day of school for the year and made Dickinson, with the boys sleeping the last couple hours. They did pretty well in the car, the excitement of the trip helping a bunch (along with a bagful of grapes - it's amazing how long one of those little guys will hang on to the back cover of a pickup truck at 80 miles an hour). North Dakota has 350 long miles of "are we in Montana yet?"

We finished the drive Saturday morning and swung through the Little Bighorn Battlefield site enroute. Apart from fueling hours of Indian wars for the duration of the trip, it was an interesting diversion. It's one of the few battlefields where you can easily tune out the few rudiments of modern civilization to imagine yourself standing there alongside Custer.

The Bighorn is a tailwater fishery created only because of the constant stream of cool water leaving a system of dams on the river - perfect for trout. In the spring and early summer the outflow is high to rid the reservoirs of the snow runoff.

We had a down day on Sunday. We tried fishing the river a bit, but the water was too high to effectively wade- or shore-fish, and there's no other stream fishing in the area. We headed up the few miles to the Yellowtail Dam and checked out the visitor center, which much to Sean's chagrin did not sell anything. After dinner we tried a few casts into the Afterbay, which only resulted in a 3/8 oz. Little Cleo getting lodged through my hat and into my scalp. After several failed attempts to pull it out, I had to push the point through the other side and have Sam crimp the barb down. At least I now know how a fish feels...

Monday - Day 1 on the river. It had been raining in Ft. Smith for the better part of the previous 10 days (and raining still), but we were lucky enough to slot right into the two most gorgeous days of the month. Our guide, Eric, showed up at 9, and the boys were finally able to ask him all the questions they'd been saving up (how long have you been guiding, what's the biggest fish you've ever caught, etc.). Not 10 minutes before he showed up, my Winston rod was the victim of a car door. Luckily, he was gracious enough to let me use his.

We put in at Yellowtail around 10:30, and the boys were almost immediately on fish. Eric set them up with a 'teton rig', spinning rod with a 3/8 oz bell sinker at the end and a couple flies dropped from the line a foot or so above the sinker. It was deadly effective.

Here is the first of many doubles the boys hooked into over the two days. Yes, those are two black labs in the front of the boat - two of the best trained dogs I've ever seen. They didn't move an inch unless Eric told them to, although they would cock an ear and give a pleading glance every time they heard a rooster pheasant cackle from shore.

With the water so high, there weren't many places to pull over, so we had to make do over the boat when nature called. With temps in the high 70's we had the boys drinking lots of water, so she called often.

Sam was on fire the first day. He pulled in around 20 fish, including this beautiful buck rainbow.

Day 2. More of the same. The weather was beautiful again, but a system was coming in the afternoon, so we got a little earlier start. Tuesday was Sean's day, as he caught a ton of beauties.

This was an awesome double - perfect casts, perfect drifts, and two hits within seconds. Sean got the 20-inch brown and Sam hauled in a rainbow nearly as big.

All good things must come to an end. We pushed the last few miles to stay ahead of the storm and got a few drops at the end, but everyone was still smiles.

We'd broken down the camp that morning, so we were able to hit the road right after getting off the river. It was tough driving after a long day in the sun fishing, but we made Dickinson that night and finished the drive home Wednesday.

Trip highlights:

- Outstanding fishing. We all brought in 20+ fish, many around the 20-inch mark. Sam caught the largest rainbow and the largest brown, but Sean and I weren't far behind.

- Great weather for the two days on the river - high 70's/low 80's, slight breeze. Spectacular.

- Plenty of space and diversions at the campsite. We stayed at the NPS campground on the town-side of the Afterbay.

Lowlights (producers of some tears, Dad included):

- Sean losing his wallet for a few hours. Never has the loss of a plastic, neon orange, Aerosmith wallet with $26.52 caused so much pain. Fortunately we found it a half day later in the side door of the truck.

- Sam dropping the bail tension knob for his bait casting reel into the murky waters of the Afterbay.

- Getting a hook caught in my scalp.

- Losing the last 4 inches of my fly rod, the one I spec'd specifically for use on big western waters.