Fly Fishing the Taylor River

After a day of fishing the C&R waters of the Taylor we turned our attention to the lower Taylor. We would start the day with nymphs in an extremely public run. It didn't take long for a small, very small brown. David took one side of the river and I took the other. We worked our way upstream fishing all the best looking water in our personal-public stretch or Taylor River goodness

Before we went to that public stretch we did a bit of sightseeing. The trip up the river provided us with a visual of some really nice water. The road up the river was closed for reconstruction so we took the detour with a side trip to see Crested Butte. Some quick photos along the fence line and we were soon on the way.

Meanwhile back at the river. The browns were eating nymphs and we were lucky to have a nice public stretch to ourselves. Every small pool held at least a fish or two. This river is a lot like some of the water in the Smokys, high sticking is extremely effective in the morning. Like the Smokys that would change later in the day.

My routine was to try to achieve the perfect drift, hopefully catch a fish or two, then take a few minutes and look at the scenery. I have to admit the scenery was spectacular and I missed several strikes while looking at everything except where I was supposed to be looking. This wandering of the eye lost me a very good brown...

Private water is a big deal in Colorado. People who own property along the river also own at least half of the river bottom along the river. If they own property on the both sides of the river they own the entire river bottom. This means there are some great stretches of water that we could not fish. Above is a private subdivision of which we did not get to fish, but the water looked good and well maybe next time, who knows...

Later in the day the dries began to work and to get to the fish it was a lot of work. Dries were working for the bravest of the brave, who were working the opposite bank. Adams in various sizes would call up a fish, if the drifted fly was refused it was best to step down a size or two for a strike. We headed to lunch, leaving the Taylor and then we made a move to the Gunnison...