Wyoming Freestone
Bighorn River Fishing Report, Flows and Hatches
The Wyoming Bighorn below Wind River Canyon at Thermopolis, a hot-spring-fed river that fishes nothing like the famous Montana Bighorn two hundred miles downstream. Its alkaline water grows heavy trout on scuds, sowbugs, and crawdads, and the bugs run earlier here than the altitude would suggest.
Freestone
Wyoming
4,610 ft
Gauge WRBD
Right now
Live conditions
Flow
Air
Temporarily unavailable
Sky / wind
Temporarily unavailable
Last updated July 16 at 4:00 PM MDT
The hatch chart
Bighorn River hatches by month
The emergences that come off the Bighorn by month, straight from the Rivus hatch model.
| Hatch | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Midge Midge, #18-22 | ||||||||||||
Blue Winged Olive Mayfly, #18-20 | ||||||||||||
Caddisfly Caddis, #14-18 | ||||||||||||
Pale Morning Dun Mayfly, #16-18 | ||||||||||||
Little Yellow Sally Stonefly, #14-16 | ||||||||||||
Trico Mayfly, #20-24 | ||||||||||||
Grasshopper / Terrestrial Hopper, #8-12 |
How it fishes
A Wyoming freestone
A freestone river runs free off snowmelt and rain, so it swings hard with the seasons. It blows out and browns up in spring runoff, then drops and warms into summer. The hatches track the water temperature more than the calendar, so you time your trip to the flow and the thermometer.
Access and regulations
Before you fish
Access and the right to fish are the angler’s responsibility, every time. Public access, private water, and seasonal closures vary along the river, so confirm where you can legally stand and wade before you go. We do not point you to a specific spot.
Read the current rules, license requirements, and any special-regulation water before you go. Regulations change season to season, so check them fresh.
Flow and water temperature from USGS, weather from NWS and NOAA, refreshed hourly. Real-time USGS readings are provisional and subject to revision. The hatch chart and river read are Rivus model output.