Fishing Season: Spring

Bighorn River - WY

Fishing Outlook & Conditions

Temperature 48°

Temp:

48°

Water Temp:

43

Jeramie Prine's Tip of the Week

The Bighorn River flows are now at 2020 cfs. Fishing has been productive. Rainbows are starting to spawn. Please respect the redds (spawning beds) and don't fish them and avoid walking on them at all costs. Disrupting the redds and fish on them do not help the future of the fishery. To see the actual water flows, please visit: https://www.usbr.gov/gp-bin/arcweb_boyr.pl

Directions open in app

Map of Bighorn River

Water Flow Data

Tidal Conditions

Orvis-Endorsed guides nearby

Dunoir Fishing Adventures

5-Day Outlook as of 4/16/24

Spring weather and some warmth have finally hit the region. With that said, weather looks spotty this week with spring storms rolling into the Bighorn basin. It is just a matter of time before nice weather becomes more consistent.

Techniques & Tips as of 4/16/24

Nymphing and dry fly fishing during the right conditions have had the best success this last week.

Local Species Available Spring

  • Fish Icon

    Trout

Jeramie Prine's Recommended Fly Patterns

"Must-have" fly fishing patterns in descending order of importance:

Name: Colors: Size(s):
Bead Head Hare's Ear Flashback N/A 16
Indicator Spinner - Trico N/A 16
Shaky Worm N/A 16
Rouse's J-Dub Sow Bug N/A 16
Schroeder's Parachute Hopper N/A
Schultzy's Red Eyes Leech N/A

Bead Head Hare's Ear Flashback

Fish love flies that have a bit of flash.

2.49

Item #803E

Buy Now

Jeramie Prine's Recommended Gear

Description: About Bighorn River

The Bighorn River in Wyoming is an amazing fishery that can be fished year-round for big healthy Browns, Rainbows, and the occasional Cutthroat Trout. It definitely helps to fish this river from a drift boat as it is a large river, and there is limited and hard to reach public access. The Bighorn River boasts roughly 1100 trout per mile, and the scenery is not too bad either. The Bighorn River in Wyoming is similar to the stretch in Montana, but not nearly the amount of people the river sees up north. With that said, the Bighorn in Wyoming has been discovered and in the spring the river can get pretty busy. Winter can be a great time to fish the Bighorn with little to no crowds. In summer, anglers can count on moss but some great dry fly fishing. Fall can be a magical time on the river with cooler temps, less moss, and fish chasing streamers.

Nearest Airport:

Riverton Regional Airport

Hatches:

Midges, sow bugs, baetis, mud bugs, and annelids.

Best Time to Fish:

9:00-4:00

Best Stretch:

All of it!

Best Access:

Wedding of the Waters