The Beasts of the Bighorn

The Beasts of the Bighorn

The Bighorn is famous for its large trout and prolific hatches. Photo: Earl Harper, via Hatch Magazine. A few days on Montana’s Bighorn River provides Chris Hunt of Hatch Magazine with some killer trout, as well as perspectives on everything from killing big fish to dealing with other anglers on the river. The number of trout in the river and the possibility of landing a true trophy are the main reasons folks flock to Forth Smith: The Bighorn Ri…

The beasts of the Bighorn

I’ve lost count of the number of eye-rolling stories that I’ve heard from guides about clients killing trophy fish caught from the West’s great trout rivers. The notion that a fish must die to appease the ego, it seems, is still richly embedded among a few trout anglers. And guides, well, they get to know a few trout anglers.