I have to say that the drive out to the Big Hole was worth the trip alone. It was an early fall morning and the mist was still rising off the river as we followed the curving road through the canyon. The cottonwoods along the bank were shinning bright yellow as the sun peaked up over the tall canyon wall. Below us, the river seemed to pull all of fall's beauty into a single being.
With the best of summer dry fly fishing behind us, we started with a combination of streamers and nymphs, placing special emphasis placed on san-juan worms, prince nymphs, and minnow/sculpin patters. Working up from the bridge I was immediately surprised by how slippery the wading on the Big Hole was, and carefully worked my way out into a riffle above the bridge. It didn't take long for me to pull in a nice brown on a zonker minnow. Everyone else was catching fish too, most of which seemed to prefer the smaller bead head patters. Whitefish, rainbows, browns, and even a small grayling were all caught. I did pretty well with a small soft-hackle trailing off the zonker by about 12 inches.
As the morning wore on, the fishing seemed to slow down, so we decided to head back to the bridge for an early lunch. Afterwards we worked downstream from the bridge to seek out new water and get away from the few fishermen we'd seen upstream. Not far from the bridge we found a nice riffle that we spread out to fish from both sides. TC, who as of that morning had never fished with a nymph, hooked into a really nice rainbow which leapt out of the water a few times before breaking off. I got a couple light hits on the streamer, but didn't manage to hook anything.
Continuing downstream we caught no fish, and had little in the way of action until we returned to the same riffle a couple hours later. There again TC caught and (This time) landed a really nice 16-inch rainbow on a prince nymph. With our daylight fading we decided to pile back into the car and head a little ways downstream to try some new water before calling it a day.
Not too far downstream of the powerhouse bridge we found a good spot to finish out the day. The sun was quickly dropping behind the mountains, and to our great excitement a really nice hatch of BWO's came out to play! Since the sub-surface fishing hadn't been much good, it was a relief to see rising fish, some of which were of good size too! Alina was the first to hook up on a nice rainbow. TC and I did the same not long thereafter. After a short while the hatch subsided and the rises slowed. Satisfied, we decided to call it a day.
Overall, my first trip to the Big Hole River was excellent. The sheer beauty of the river and surrounding valley was breathtaking. Fishing seemed best in the mid to late morning, and persistence certainly seemed to pay off when it came to nymphing. With the brown trout getting aggressive and hungry before the spawn I'd have to imagine that fishing is only going to get better, so get out there and partake of it while its good.
><> Tight Lines <><