Big Spring Angler

Big Spring Creek is floated here rather than waded, and that is the whole argument for the trip. The creek runs roughly twenty-six miles from the state hatchery spring southeast of Lewistown, north and northwest to its confluence with the Judith River, and swift current, deep pockets and private banks make a raft the better way to cover it even in peak irrigation season. The spring pushes 64,000 gallons a minute at 52 degrees Fahrenheit all year, so flows and temperatures stay steady, the insect life is rich and the water fishes in every month, midges and streamers included in winter. Wild brown, rainbow and westslope cutthroat hold through the system. From mid-June into October the day is dry flies over the hatches or terrestrials, with streamers moving the largest fish in any season and nymphing working beneath. Summer nights are given over to mouse patterns after dark.