Category: Riffle and Rise Blog

Had a fun afternoon on the Taylor River yesterday. It warmed up nicely and the fish were hungry.

I fished the Gunnison River this afternoon, and though it was cold and windy (and still very much winter), the fishing was pretty good. The rainbows were all nice and chunky, and they really fought hard. I fished an egg pattern and the Pickle (stonefly nymph) the entire time. The Pickle worked very well on the rainbows.

There is quite a bit of open water on the Gunnison River now. Ice-off came early due to the well above average temperatures we have seen since early January or so. Fished the lower river with Dave today and caught some decent fish. It was a beautiful day and nice to get out with the fly rod.

The warm weather has continued into February now, and we’re starting to worry a little about the snowpack. There is still plenty of winter left and hopefully we’ll get some good snow between now and April. In the meantime, the fishing has been good and it’s nice to get out there on the rivers for some early season fishing. This was a very pretty wild trout from the East River today.

We’ve had some unusually warm weather here this month. It’s not often you have 40 degree days in January in the Gunnison Valley, but that’s just what we’ve had the past couple of days. I decided to get out and fish for the first time in nearly two months, which even for this time of year, is a long time for me. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours on the Taylor River this afternoon. The weather and scenery were great, and the fish were hungry.

We’ve had some heavy fog here in the Gunnison Valley this week, and with temperatures down near zero degrees, everything freezes. It looks like someone sprayed the entire valley with a fire extinguisher. We’ve had 20 below zero already, but it’s actually been warmer than normal lately. It’s still too cold to fish though.

It’s good to see these pretty little wild rainbows in the river. Rainbow trout have definitely made a comeback here in recent years and we continue to see signs of reproduction. 

A nice chunky brown trout from the Taylor River today.

Had a nice afternoon up on the Taylor River with Peri today. It was a beautiful day after all the cold and snow we’ve had recently. And the fishing was great. It was an excellent way to start the holiday season!

I fished the Taylor River this afternoon for a couple of hours. It was in the upper 20s up in the canyon, and the water was very cold as well. Winter is here, no matter what the calendar says. Fishing was very good during the short period of time I fished. There were signs of an eagle feasting on a fish in the snow on the bank of the river. I measured the wing span pattern in the snow, and it was over 7 feet. They are truly amazing birds.