Old Man River OR: Let's get ready for Montana!

The annual Bighorn river trip is now less than a month away, so it is time to begin pumping those excitement juices into your bloodstream. Some friends and I have been doing this trip every summer since 2008 and have never ever had a single bad day on the river. We've fished it at 2500cfs (low) and at 15000cfs (record high) and always caught plenty of fish. We've also fished it at an ideal 3000-5000cfs and caught more than plenty of fish. And fish like this one have even been caught!

For those of you who haven't been there before, let me tell you just a little about it. It's one of those rivers you hear about because fishing there can be, and usually is, epic. With anywhere from 5000-13000 fish per mile (estimates vary wildly) at an average length of 16-18 inches, it's obvious how good the fishing is. Add in the fact that they are all wild fish in a tailwater than runs crystal clear no matter what, and you begin to understand why a lot of people schedule trips up there.

I still remember the first time we went there. It was just two of us that first trip and we were both still somewhat new to fly fishing. For us a big fish was 14 inches, and a good day on the river was catching 5 or more fish of any size. It's not surprising that we got hooked (pardon the lame pun) on this river immediately. The worst part was that we weren't used to catching big fish and ended up losing at least 70% of the fish we hooked!

Last year we changed things up and made the trip in March rather than late May. The result was colder and wetter, but the fishing was as good or actually quite a bit better than the summer trips. You can read all about it here and here. And a fun video exists here.

From what I hear so far, the roster this year will be Eric, Frank, Dave, Brady and myself for the first few days. Then the first three of them have to leave and Brady and I will be met by Dan, John, Jack, Jonathan, Jim, Lew, and a few maybes: Chad, Aaron, Corey, and Tyler. We're very very sorry to be missing Clif, Mike, Jerry, the Denzer duo, and Jon this year. I expect you guys to clear your calendars next time! And to not move to China and Canadia. We also welcome the newbies Isaac and Bobby. I promise you will have fun and you will catch fish.

And now you should meet all the participants in this years festivities (except I don't have action pics of Isaac, Jim, Corey, Aaron, Tyler, Dave, and Bobby, but I will after the trip--for next year!):