USA Troutfishing Colorado

We had always wanted to visit our favourite ski town Telluride in summer. Well, it was summer when we pulled into the campground just to the North of the township. But it did not stay that way for long. By the end of the next day, it was snowing heavily in the mountains and raining in the town. It looked very much like the photo below and this was only September! (think March for you Southern Hemispherers).




Telluride Main Street






During our ski trips here, I had always looked longingly at the San Miguel River that flows through the middle of this quaint town. The locals had told me on our first visit that this was one of only two undammed rivers in the whole of Colorado. There had been a big fight when the skifield operator had suggested damming the river to provide water for snow making. Fortunately Telluride is a fishing town too with Scott Rods located in the town. They had led the fight against this proposal and the river had been saved from the all-embracing clutches of the ski monopoly.
I had peered into the river on many occasions in winter but you can't go fishing with ski poles. This time I had the fishing pole and so I took off down the river valley for a day's fishing.
The main highway into Telluride followed the river most of the way so access was easy. There was a huge amount of water to fish and I poked into a couple of spots before I found a nice stretch. Unfortunately that was about when the heavens opened and the rain settled in. But I had my good North Face parka so was prepared to battle the elements for a while.
The fish were feeding quite actively for a while and I took some nice 2-3 lb rainbows. In a deep pool between boulders, I hooked something substantially bigger. But it went and hid under the boulders and I was forced to break it off. Must have been related to those Ruakituri buggers who try the same trick.
By then the rain was turning into sleet and the river turning a battle grey colour. I figured the fish would be going doggo very soon and the comfort of the warm van was more appealing.
Unfortunately the rain continued for 2 days so we decided to go find a drier spot and that was the end of my Telluride fishing.
Heading down the valley to lower levels, we managed to escape the rain which seemed to be just hanging around the mountains. We spent the night in Montrose
and dried out our gear. Then is was off to the Black Canyon of the mighty Gunnison River.


Black Canyon









But not as mighty as it once was as we learned that 90% of the flow of the Gunnison now went through a man-made tunnel that diverted the waters for agricultural use for the area around Montrose. Peering down at the remnants of this amazing waterway, it was not hard to imagine how a flow rate of ten times as much water had eaten its way through the black granite walls of the canyon.
Apparently there was good fishing to be had in the canyon but it took a day to walk down there - and probably two days to get back up! Most fishing was therefore done from rafts.








We drove on up the canyon, past the inevitable dam that fed the river and through the town of Gunnison. Here the river was a lot more accessible and I stopped for a quick flick, picking up a nice cuttthroat for my troubles.




Upper Gunnison below Almont




We found a great campground at Almont right above where the Taylor River joined the Gunnison River; just across the road from a tackle shop and just up the road from the pub. Is that paradise or what?
The next day I stepped into the river that flowed ten feet away from the van. It was beautiful riffly water, slightly tea-coloured like a West Coast stream.















The fish were rising everywhere. You could wade up the middle of the riffle casting your flies left and right to cover the rises. It reminded me of fishing the middle sections of the Blue Gray River back home.
The fish were mainly small browns with the odd one going 3 lbs - good fun on this gentle water.















I landed 13 fish in a morning's fishing on a mixture of dries and nymphs. I thought this was pretty good fishing from a stretch of water that must be fairly heavily fished. Sue confirmed this as she took the picures above. She had walked up a couple of kms and talked to three anglers fishing the stretch by the Post Office. They informed Sue that they had not caught a fish that morning.
I must have been in the right place at the right time for once in my life!

The next day we drove up to the head of the Taylor River as the guys in the tackle shop had said the pool just below the dam held some of the biggest trout in the whole of USA. He assured me I would see 10lb plus fish from the highway bridge.
I was more than a little sceptical - if this quality of fishing was available in USA, why did they all head for New Zealand?

















Driving up the Taylor Valley, I noticed that access to the river was very limited. Most of the fences sported "Posted" notices. In Colorado, that means the landowner has reserved the water for his private use and you are not permitted to cross the land or fish the river. In most places, I had been ignoring such signs and pleading ignorance if I was to be challenged. But I had heard these Taylor River landowners backed up their rights with guns so I decided not to put that to the test.
Reaching the aforementioned highway bridge, we pulled into the car park and wandered over to the bridge to look into the big , slow pool.
Peering back at me were the biggest trout I had seen in USA. Several of these fish were well over 10lbs and some must having been nudging 20lbs. There were around a dozen anglers trying their luck but with little success. The tackle shop guys said these fish fed exclusively on micro shrimps that were washed down from Taylor Reservoir above. Mysis shrimps I think they were called. The pattern size was 22 through to 28 and you needed to fish them on 7X or even 8X leaders.
I had bought a couple of the flies but you needed a magnifying glass to find the eye of the hook and feed through the leader.
The thinnest leader I had was 6X (about 2.5lb) so I would have to make do with that and hope the trout did not notice. I crossed over at the tail to fish the less popular lefthander's side. It was easy to make a delicate presentation with a 4 wt rod and this light tackle - but not delicate enough for these fish. A couple were kind enough to sidle over and inspect my tiny offering but the micro drag of the too heavy leader was apparently sufficient to deter them from taking.
An hour of refusals saw me off although a guy above did manage to hook one of these monsters. Unfortunately 2 lb tippets does not give you much leverage against a 10 lb fish and he was soon busted off. I fitted a 4X leader and went downstream to fish the rougher water below the big fish pool. A good-sized rainbow took my Hare & Copper and took off downstream. A lively fight ensued with the fish taking full advantage of the fast water and the many boulders.
Eventually he succumbed and a fine 6lb fish lay in the shingle. Just a tiddler by Taylor River standards but one of my biggest USA trout.
When I improve my presentation skills, I might go back and have a go for one of the monsters below.


A huge rainbow from
the Highway Bridge
Pool on the Upper
Taylor River

















Compare that to one of the biggest NZ trout
I have seen - they look pretty similar!