River Rock Lodge

You'll arrive at River Rock Lodge just south of the prairie town of Hardin, Montana, the afternoon before your Bighorn River fishing adventure starts. Hosts and proprietors Jeremy DeVries and Mack Konigsfeld will help you get settled into your rooms, either in the well-appointed lodge or in the nearby A-frame cabin (ideal for smaller groups). If you're on your own and preparing your own meals, feel free to take over the kitchen, or wander about 15 minutes north to Hardin, where there are a couple of solid dining options. Take advantage of the lodge's spacious deck, enjoy a cocktail, a beer or glass of wine around the fire pit and get your head ready. Tomorrow, the Bighorn's trophy trout await. 

No trip to the Bighorn River is complete without a float of the river's legendary upper section, just below Yellowtail Dam at the Ft. Smith put-in. Here, super-chilled water from the bottom of the reservoir pulses into the river, and your hunt for big browns and rainbows gets under way. You'll be part of a storied Western fly-fishing tradition as you hop into your guide's drift boat and start your float down one of the world's great trout rivers. As the boats spread out and find their lines, you'll keep an eye out for rising fish, but, given the water's 38-degree temperature just below the dam, you first few fish will likely hit the pink sowbug pattern in your hopper-dropper rig. Keep an eye out for one of the West's most iconic river scenes — the fabled "Drive In, where, decades ago, area farmers propped up the Bighorn's banks with old cars to slow erosion. 

With your first day under your belt and the rust off your cast, your guide thinks you have what it takes to go after the real beasts of the Bighorn on a float from "Three to B" — Three-mile to Bighorn. With slightly warmer water, your angling options on this day are a bit more varied. Right off the bat, you'll see big, fist-sized heads rising to an early caddis hatch. It feels good to cast a dry fly. It feels even better when that first really nice fish of the trip falls for your imitation at the storied Snag Hole, and it gets better when when you pull nice fish from the Pipeline, the $20 Hole and just above the confluence with Soap Creek. You'll take out at the Bighorn access late in the afternoon, and cold beer tastes good at the truck. The best part? Your arms are tired. The Bighorn's robust wild trout are keeping you busy.

You discussed today's float with your guide the evening before, where, over a tumbler of iced brown liquor, the description of "really big browns" sounded great. But, you were warned, there will be fewer fish on the lower stretch of the river from Bighorn to Mallards Landing. The ones you do get into, though, could be quite memorable. On this stretch, the river's not quite so clear and not quite so cold, but, on a blue-bird day in the late summer, your hopper pattern looks pretty good. Hopefully, the Bighorn's swarthy brown trout think so, too. 

You've floated most of the Bighorn over the last three days, and now you get to pick your favorite stretch and do it again. Another run by the Drive-In? More head-hunting in the middle stretch? Or maybe you have some revenge to exact on that big 23-inch brown that broke you off on the lower river the day before. Regardless, it's the Bighorn. Chances are, it'll deliver.