Big Red Taylor Blob

The Old Man, Marty, and I snuck over Cottonwood Pass one last time this year to hit the Taylor. We encountered some snow and slush on the pass on the way over and I knew this would be the last trip over the pass this year. The White Buffalo handled the conditions without a problem. After sitting in my Grandma's garage for many years there were a few issues to work through mechanically but I think (knock on wood) I've got them sorted out. With the new roof rack and Big Sky Rod Box it's become a sweet fishing vehicle! I think my Grandpa would enjoy the upgrades.

Fall is probably my favorite time of year to fish in Colorado. Big hungry fish seem to come out of the wood work. So do the crowds but sometimes you can hit it right and find some room and some big fish. This trip just happened to be one of those times!

We headed over Friday afternoon and even though the weather was a little nasty going over the pass as soon as we started dropping down towards Taylor Reservoir we saw blue sky. I was actually hoping that it would stay a little nasty with the low clear water but the sun was a welcome surprise.

I took a little walk up above the bridge looking for pigs in the hog trough but didn't see anything huge. We fished for a while in the avalanche hole without much action then decided to head downstream a bit to a run we've done well in over the years. I stood up on the road and took a good look at the near side of the run and the tail end of the run. Lots of mid sized fish in the tail end and a few bigger shadows in the deepest section but again nothing too huge. I decided to cross at the bottom of the run and check out the other side. I crossed and started making my way towards the head of the run looking in the heavier water for some color. I made it almost to the top of the run when I spotted a MASSIVE red blob. Holy Crap!!! That is what we are looking for!

Of course as soon as I saw him, he saw me and pushed a little further out into the current. I thought he was going to pull a Houdini and was just about to sling some choice words for wading up the far side too quickly when he stopped, turned back upstream, and held his position. I started walking backwards very softly! I got back a ways to where I felt comfortable and just marveled at this huge red blob. This fish was REALLY colorful. I pointed him out to Dad and Marty on the far side of the river and they could see the color easily. This thing was big and red.

I watched as he moved through the run. He'd hold in a position for a while and then move downstream a few feet and then would come back upstream. I could see the white of his mouth as he was eating. I got really nervous. I made a few casts and he scoffed... Slowly moving away from my flies and then back to his holding area. I reminded myself to take it easy and not whip him to death. I figured if I made one or two descent presentations to him without hooking up that a fly change was in order. That was the game for the next 40 minutes....

What the hell. Time for a big ass egg pattern. First cast and all I saw was white mouth. I almost pulled the fly out from in front of him but hesitated at the last minute. A split second later I lifted the rod and he was on.... and hauling ass upstream! I didn't hear it at the time but Marty said, "that thing is heading for the dam"!  I couldn't stop him. He made a long run upstream and towards the far side of the river. At one point Marty got close to him but as soon as the net got close he turned and swam right at me. Crap!!! He was back on my side of the river about 20 feet in front of me before I knew it. I had to strip in slack as fast as I could. I was frantic when I finally tightened back up on him. I thought he was gone.

After holding for a while in the deeper section of the run he started making his way back upstream on my side of the river. He made it up past a boulder and I had to stretch to keep my line off the rock. I slowly worked my way up to him and got the rod almost on top of him from my side of the boulder. He was holding. I told my Dad that he could probably step around the boulder and net him since I was getting good leverage. I knew I wouldn't be able to see what was going on when my Dad stepped in front of me. All I could do is ever so slightly apply more vertical pressure to try and get his head up enough.... It seemed like a life time before I heard, "I got him"!!!! He turned around and all I saw was red slab. Unbelievable! No way we just landed that fish.

We got him in some calm water and took a quick pic. Heavy old boy who had been around the block a few times. Absolutely gorgeous red sides. Huge chompers with a nice kype. The Old Man pulled off one hell of a net job and then turned around and snapped a quality photo! I held him in the run and he slowly moved off into the deep. What a moment.

I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the evening. We fished a while longer but I wasn't really paying attention. I just kept playing the whole thing over and over again in my mind. It didn't seem real. Around dark we packed up and headed to Gunnison for the night.

We were at the river at daybreak the next morning. We decided to hit the avalanche hole since it was open. Dad and I were on the water first. Marty came up a few minutes later and started fishing up above me a bit. Well started fishing isn't the right way to put it. He took one cast and hooked up! It was still pretty dark so we couldn't really see what he hooked into but it wasn't acting like a small fish.

A few minutes later and he was in the net. I went to lift the net and realized that Marty had just stuck a REALLY nice brown. This trip was getting better and better! I've had a few epic days on the Taylor over the years and this was turning into one of those trips. I had to look at the camera and see the fish in the flash. Holy cow! FAT colorful brown. Marty's smile said it all.

We concentrated on the avalanche hole and above the bridge for the rest of the morning. We caught some nice fish but I didn't see any other toads. These fish know how to get around the river. Sometimes you see a ton of huge fish and sometimes you don't. I think there is a lot of luck involved with hitting it right.

We did head back downstream later in the day and I saw my big red blob. I was happy to see him back in the run feeding. He was having nothing to do with us though and as soon as we got anywhere near the water he was gone. Off to get bigger.

On the way back we were treated to a really pretty sunset on Cottonwood Pass. Sometimes the whole world seems to smile at you. Almost a perfect fall trip on the Taylor. The only thing that would have made it better was for Dad to hook into a giant but that just wasn't in the cards this time. I think he was happy though netting that fish! Big pressure when someone you're fishing with hooks a big one. He has pulled off some crazy net jobs on this River and will never forget this last one...... "I got him"!!!

Taylor Brutes

Output of Taylor Reservoir

After a great float trip on the Gunnison with  Gunnison River Guides the day prior Darren, Ben, and I met up with my folks for a day on the Taylor. My Dad has been trying to get up to the Taylor while the flow was still around 500 and he just missed it! I had actually been up once already this spring at the end of May and the fishing was good but I didn't see many big fish. It seems though that things had changed since my last trip. My folks had stopped by the hog trough the evening before while we were finishing up on the Gunnison and saw a guy land a 30" rainbow..... That was good news. Sounded like at least one brute was back in the trough. Interesting too since the flow had just gone from 500 to 450ish....

After a quick planning session at the hotel we decided that we would join my folks on the river a few hours after they were planning on starting (EARLY). We would get a little rest from our hard days work on the Gunnison and they would be able to scout things out before the crowd showed up. I thought of waking up at 3 AM to shine our headlights into my folks room. I could see my Dad jumping out of the room to catch any possible early Taylor departers! Would have been funny but I'm getting soft and 3AM is too damn early.

I think we showed up around 8:30 and we were definitely behind the power curve. Plenty of cars around the bridge. I did have the pleasure of meeting Warren Pattison and his buddy Marc Pizzimenti in the parking lot though. I've seen Warren around on Facebook and it turns out that Warren and Marc read the blog. Meeting cool people like these guys really is the best part of having the blog. We would wind up running into each other on the river later on that day...

I did a quick scan of the river and saw my folks up below the wire. They had started at daylight and were already on the board with some nice bows. I had left some flies in a fly box for my Dad at the front desk of the hotel the day before for Father's Day. I told the front desk to hand them to him and tell him that they had pre-charged them to his room. Figured it would be worth a good laugh later on. The front desk blew it but he did get his fly box later on in the evening. I threw in a mix of flies, tied and bought, that I figured would be good for the Taylor that day. There were a handful
of nice #18 beadhead flashback Hare's Ears that I had found in the bargain bin at Angler's Covey a few days before. These were working well early for the folks and continued to work well throughout the day. It was a great start to the day and it was awesome to hear that some bigger rainbows had already been caught!

I decided to walk around a bit and see what was swimming around in the hog trough. What I saw was very promising. I spotted at least half a dozen 20" plus trout on the first pass. I walked over the bridge and up to the wire on the other

side and spotted a few more. I stopped here for a while and picked up a few nice bows and missed a 20 incher on a long run. I walked back over the bridge to where my folks were and took a few casts to some descent trout that were holding in open water. I was scanning the far side of the river when I spotted a large shadow on the far side (where I had just come from). Back down stream and over the bridge again. On my way up I spotted a 24" class rainbow that was in open water before I even got to the one I spotted from the other bank. Wow! This was awesome! Large trout on the move. They were eating too.


It seems like on this river lately they are either there or they are not. I know its surprising how far a trout can move in a river and I'm thinking that the high flow pushed a lot of them down below the first section of public water. Lots of room down there. Less shrimp but lots of stoneflies. The drop in flow the day before may have sent some of them back upstream to the private water under the dam. Who knows???? That's what I would do if I lived around the hog trough.

I got in position and started casting, carefully to lay down soft casts without lining anything. The good news was that I wasn't spooking anything. The bad news was that I wasn't hooking anything. I decided to change my rig. A few more casts without anything. I knew I was getting good drifts because I could see my flies in the water. That is when the brute showed up. He swam up from the first deep cut below the wire into the run that I was fishing and parked it 3 feet below the trout I was fishing to. O..... M..... G...... I was instantly nervous. This thing was ridiculous. A HUGE male bow that I figured was 10 pounds plus. I have seen these freaks of nature before in this river and they are VERY hard to cast to without spooking. Luck was on my side though. I was already in position and he swam up to me. I just had to relax and not make any stupid mistakes.

My first cast was well short of where I needed to be. Always best to aim short and go from there. If you line them they are gone. My second cast was on the money. He looked and then let himself slide downstream back into deeper water. Ahhhhh!!!!! He didn't spook though. He just lazily drifted downstream 10 feet or so. I knew he would be back if I just had patience. He came back quicker than I thought he would, within a minute I think, and I took the same cast. Same thing..... He slid back downstream 10 feet and held. I know better than to try and force feed something like this and I knew I put two good drifts in front of him so I decided to let the water rest and change both of my flies. This is something I'm doing more and more, vs. a single fly change. It takes a little more time (less if you use the Davy (Wotton) Knot [only if using small hooks and small tippet]) but I've had good results. This Wotton Knot is quick, it totally disappears, and leaves your line super clean (no kinks whatsoever). Just be careful to make sure its fully tightened.

Now I know it sounds like I have a total man crush on John Kleis since he's in most of my posts lately but he gave me a little tip on our way back from a trip to Spinney in May on a certain fly that he heard worked well up on the Taylor when the Mysis bite was on. This was not the Kleis's Mysis (which is always worth having on at the Taylor and what I actually had on the previous two casts). And when he said it, it made total sense to me. One of those things I couldn't believe I didn't think of before. One of those things that you knew would work even before trying it. Thing was I did actually try it during my last trip to the Taylor at the end of May and it had worked.... really well.... Now I know how terrible of a move this is since you have read to this point but...... I can't say what it is. Anything I learn on my own I throw out there freely but this tip is not mine to give. Now if Kleis wants to pipe up and throw it out there that is another thing - Sorry Buddy! I did tell my buddy Nick (who I met on my last trip to the Taylor and saw again this trip) since I've tied them a little differently but that was an on the water thing between new friends. And I may have let it slip in talking to Warren and Marc....Ben was in the car when you told me and my folks are a given. Last tip I ever get out of Kleis...

Back to the brute! I was confident. I was in a good spot, with two good fresh flies, on a clean rig, set at the perfect depth (shot and indicator), in a position that I knew I could make a good cast without spooking anything. Confident. Ever hear the term confidence flies? Confidence plays a huge role in fly fishing. If your gut is telling you something is off change it till you feel good about it. I was also surrounded by great nets, my Mom and Dad, Darren and Ben on the far side of the river, Marc downstream from me on my side of the river, and Warren upstream a ways on my side of the river. There were a bunch of plan Bs standing below Marc on my side of the river as well. I had rested the water for a few minutes and the brute was back.

I made the same cast a third time and saw a head turn and a mouth. Time stopped.  Very surreal moment lifting the rod. I felt a solid stop and knew I had a good hook set. Usually I'm pretty vocal about things like this but I think all I got out was a pretty quiet, "oh my god he ate it". The next 5 minutes or so are pretty blurry. I knew Marc was on it with the net. He was able to stay below the fish in the perfect position. We went up and down the river and I do remember two times specifically when I had to apply too much pressure in order to steer this thing around some rocks. In those situations you just have to realize that if you don't do anything you'll lose the fish for sure. The whole thing came to a head when I caught another lucky break and the fish came into thigh deep water just above Marc. The fish was only a foot down and I was getting good vertical pressure on him. I THINK Marc asked if he should go in or something to that effect. Could just be my imagination but I THINK he asked and think I remember saying do it, do it.

My Mom and Dad on the far side of the river

Fish was in the net. Mostly.... Wow what a site that was. Burned in my brain forever. Marc went in and came up with a whole lot of fish. We got a good tape on him, keeping him in the water of course, and he was a solid 29". Almost a "dirty thirty" as Marc put it. My longest trout ever. I lifted him out of the water for a quick pick and put him back in the current. I was going to turn around and lift him up one more time to show my folks, Darren, and Ben but he kicked that idea and was gone. Nothing better than a good release of a big fish. Had a great feeling of accomplishment, and thankfulness come over me. Perfect setting, around friends and family, and an absolute masterpiece of nature. Living.

I decided to step aside and point out the original shadow I had come across the bridge a third time for to Marc. He really added to the experience. He was so happy for me. We even had a riverside toast. Marc set a perfect example of how to be around others on a crowded river. On top of that he pulled off a helluva net job. It was the absolute least I could do. Thanks Marc and I hope I run into you again soon!

Marc and SLAB

The trip was far from over. Marc's karma bank was full and he got dialed into the run quickly. I really only had time to get back over the bridge to talk to my folks about what had just transpired when Marc hooked a SLAB. I knew I wouldn't have my fish without Marc's net so I grabbed my net and started to head downstream when I heard everyone going nuts! The whole thing was over just as quick as it started. I didn't see it but apparently my Old Man transformed into what Marc described as a "ninja" and just plucked this pig out of the water mid run/jump behind his back!!!! Whaaaa???? As Warren would later describe it, "You're going to have to write about you're Dad's trick shot on grabbing my buddy, Marc's toad right from the air and behind the back... instant classic". I had to get a quick video of this fish. Another unbelievable specimen at 25". This day had just crossed over from great to epic.

Just after the ninja net

Warren fighting a pig, Marc in pursuit

And it wasn't over! After a quick "lunch" we were back on the water. Warren and Marc had hooked several other very large trout on the far side and had moved on to new water. I figured what the hell. It was open so I figured I'd take a few more casts in the sweet spot. More good luck..... I was at the end of my drift and was getting ready to cast when I felt a tug and saw another red slab absolutely losing his mind on the way across the river. He came completely out of the water twice. Another prime moment with the GoPro in the truck. The river
ninja was on it with the net and we had another river gem. This time a 22" bow. At this point I just felt guilty. No one deserves this kind of day on the water. Unbelievable. Score another one for the bargain bin too. #22 olive sparkle wing RS2. Whoever is stocking the bargain bin at the Covey deserves employee of the month (Steve?).

Still not done with this trip..... we weren't done with the bargain bin flies either. Remember that #18 beadhead flashback Hare's Ear? I rigged my Mom up with one of those and a San Juan and she would wind up capping off the day by
hooking into yet another big rainbow! I grabbed the net and got downstream. Darren was johnny-on-the-spot and helped my Mom wade downstream a little after the fish made a long run. This fish actually made three or four long runs. Did NOT like the looks of the net. I should have let the river ninja jump in! We finally got her in the net, a 20" beauty. Bargain bin!

What a trip. Best ever to the Taylor. We've put in some hard days on this river but we always come back for more and it certainly paid off for us this day. My folks commented on how nice it was to have everyone on the river chatting it up and having a great time together. I really can't remember another day like it. We wouldn't have had such a great day without everyone who was there. Grateful to spend such a day with this group of family and friends.

Update: Just got some great pics from Marc and Warren! I was right about Marc's karma bank and Warren's netting skills!!! Yowza. What a day...

Marc and SLAB 2

OK this is getting ridiculous

Oh Common! You're just showing off now Marc!

Gunnison River Float (with a touch of Taylor)

This is a long one! After writing this I couldn't believe how long it turned out. Just too many good things to ignore. I won't be offended if you skip straight to the vid/pics but this was an awesome trip and I hope you'll stick it out.


GUNNISON RIVER FLOAT TRIP 6-13-14 from Jamie Roth on Vimeo.

I love it when a plan comes together. When a plan comes together that you didn't even really have to do anything for, it's great! I admit that I'm not the best at taking the time to plan a fishing trip much in advance (which I'm sure the Old Man loves). Usually it's just a "Hey Dad/Dude, wanna hit the X on Saturday"? Luckily for me Ben Lewis was on POINT planning this bad boy out.

Darren second from left and Ben right end in AK

This trip started out with news that Ben's buddy Darren Peterson, who lives in San Diego, wanted to come out to our great state of Colorado for a little water whipping this summer. We (Ben) had some really good fishing to plan! Ben met Darren through a mutual friend up in Alaska when Ben was stationed there with the Chair.... eh hem Air Force. They have gone on some pretty epic fishing trips together. Several day floats down big Alaskan rivers, bears, huge flesh fly on 2x eating rainbow slabs..... Ben's first trout actually was up in Alaska. It was 26". Ben asked if that was good. All downhill from there but hey Ben, you have good fishing buddies at least.... And Darren is one of them.

I guess I did contribute a little to this trip. Ben and I spoke about places to fish and I have been wanting to do a float on the Gunnison for years. Ben was totally down but I was a little worried about runoff. We didn't know if the river would be fishable mid June. We decided to book it (Ben) and if it came to it we could always hit the Taylor twice. We already had reservations (Ben) to stay in Gunnison after our float trip in order to introduce an Alaskan Veteran to the hog trough. Worst case scenario we could take the Guide trip on the Taylor and learn some juicy tid-bits.

Ben did some digging and came across Gunnison River Guides. He compared a few web sites and decided on these guys and I'm glad he did. These guys were great to deal (Ben) with from day 1. They expressed the same concern about the river flow but offered up a few alternatives including the Taylor and even a day for Pike fishing on Taylor Reservoir. We almost just chucked the float trip idea for the Pike idea but decided to save that for plan B.

Darren, Ben, and I met up the morning before the trip at the Angler's Covey to stock up on flies, tippet, split shot, etc, etc. It never seizes to amaze me how much of this stuff we go through. I've actually gone away from tapered leaders on my nymph rig but I don't skimp on tippet. Especially with the trout we fish to. By the way, always check out the bargain bin flies at the Covey. I picked up a few patterns out of that bin and they paid off big time on a very recent trip.

We loaded back up in the truck and I had a great feeling come over me. Freedom.... We didn't have any hard plans for the rest of the day other than to get some fishing in on our way over to Gunnison. Maybe thats why I suck at fishing plans...... what a great thing to experience during summer in Colorado. I felt like I was in high school again on a Friday afternoon with a full tank and nowhere to be....The next best thing, a Thursday morning in the Fish Pimp Tacoma, on vacation with three days of fishing planned (Ben).

I pulled out my eerilysmart phone and took a quick look at flows. Elevenmile Canyon seemed to be just right so we decided to hit that for a few hours. We mainly wanted to show Darren that area since it is such a pretty section of the South Platte. We caught a few and missed a few but we were eager to get back on the road. We were headed to the Gunny and had big flies on the brain. Small emergers just weren't cutting it! I wanted to hear my bugs hit the water!

Cottonwood - Older pic but could have been taken last week

We decided to head over Cottonwood Pass. It's my second favorite Colorado Pass (second to Independence) and we thought Darren would appreciate it. Somewhere along the line I remembered that I had fished Willow Creek (which flows off of Cottonwood and into the Taylor Reservoir) before when I was in high school with my buddy Nate Pamperin (how the hell are you anyway Man?). We decided to get a little small stream fishing in. Plus we could scout out the Taylor. My folks were going to meet us in Gunnison the next night and were thinking of hitting the Taylor before fishing it with us on Saturday. Could be some biggins to steer my Dad away from.

Willow Creek brown

We fished for an hour or so and landed some nice little browns. Willow Creek was running high and wading was actually pretty hard. I took my first and only swim of the trip after stepping into an overgrown hole instantly stopping the lower half of my body while my upper body continued into the COLD Cottonwood water (I feel ya Marty). It didn't matter though. We were on a beautiful creek with 3 weights fishing for aggressive little trout. Last time I fished this creek it was all top water but they weren't too interested in dries with the higher flow. So call me crazy but I was using a sparkle worm and a bead head PT. They were crushing both when I took the time to sneak up on them and present a descent cast.

Taylor Res output

The wind picked up and the clouds started
moving in so we decided we better start heading towards Gunnison. Besides we (Ben) still had plans to make with our Guides for the next day. We found out that our Guides were going to be on the water the day prior so we decided to see how they did before deciding on where to fish. We stopped to show Darren the output of Taylor Reservoir which is worth a quick look if you've never seen it. It's no wonder Craven's Mysis work so well here. They certainly take a beating on the way down.I'm thinking a white crystal flash dubbing ball on a hook....

On the way in to town we (Ben) were able to get in touch with one of our Guides for the next day and the word was that the river was still high but fishing well! Saweet!!!! I love the Taylor but I really didn't want two days in a row of light tippet and small flies...... (I was forgetting the kind of fish that live in the Taylor).....

THE FLOAT TRIP PART!

We met up with our guides at 10 AM in Almont. Yes 10 AM! Turns out that the river flow peaks overnight from the previous day's runoff and it's best to start late and fish late in order to get the clearest water. You would think after 20 years of fishing I'd know this but it just goes to show that you never stop learning in this sport. Especially when you change things up and take a break from tailwaters to cover some ground on a big freestone.

When we got there our guides already had the boats in the water and were rigging up. Jason was going to be guiding Darren and Ben in the first boat and I was going to jump in the second with Hunter. They both had about half a dozen rigs setup for us. Why? With the water moving as fast as it was, taking time to rig up on the drift would burn lots of river. Score a quick one for the Guides. So far so good. 

I'll save you a few, I promise!

Now I have to say that I had full intentions of rotating out of the second boat before we started. I figured Darren and Ben should get some fishing in together but if they wanted some time on a boat to themselves I'd be more than happy to jump on with Jason. I was even planning to offer it up the first chance we go. It quickly became apparent though just how good I had it. I'm an ass... Hunter got off to a quick start and we were the first boat to start downstream (I think to Ben's dismay - see pic - Sorry Ben! :-))

Great Guide and cool Dude Hunter

I could tell I liked Hunter right away. Another one of those guys that are just on the same wavelength as me. The first piece of advice I got from Hunter, before I even got in the boat, was to ditch the waders. This little gem of advice alone was worth a good tip it turned out. (The river was too high to wade and even though we stopped at good runs we never jumped out of the boat. Would have been WAY too  hot in waders).

Hunter has been guiding in Colorado for almost two decades. He has guided on many rivers but he finally decided that the Gunny was the river for him. He would wind up doing a fantastic job of convincing me why during the rest of the day.

One of the nicer browns

The "upper section" of the trip was really bonus water for us. With the river running so fast our Guides decided that we'd need more water than what they usually cover in order to fill a full day trip. Great! This trip was getting better and better. The upper section was between Almont and Gunnison and it turned out to be a great warm up for the day. Plenty of aggressive browns ranging in size between 8 and 14 inches. This was the type of fishing I was looking for. We had HUGE tippet on and double rubber legs (Girdle Bugs). Strikes were not very subtle! I absolutely live for this kind of fishing. When Hunter told me that it was feisty browns up top around Almont and bigger bows closer towards Gunnison I knew I was in for a really good day of fly fishing.

Darren having fun

We continued downstream hitting pockets on the drift along fast water and stopping at slower runs where the trout could get out of the heavy current. This provided an excellent mix of technical and laid back fishing. Half a dozen quick casts followed by half a dozen drifts through a nice run. Hunter had us on every possible holding area and there were a bunch of them. We found some pockets with no one home and some with players but every cast held the full expectation of a take. This lasted the entire trip which is really the kind of day you are after....They go fast.

Walking on water

Darren, Ben, and Jason in the sweet spot

Turned out that Darren and Ben were having just as much fun with Jason. We would leap frog each other on the way down stream and several times I'd see them go by with a fish on or in the net. It was a great feeling just being on the water. There were a handful of sections that were just a little too fast to hold much of anything. It gave me a chance to just stand up at the front of the boat and relax as we drifted down river. Float trips are a recent thing for me and for anyone who has never experienced one I full heartedly recommend it. There are a few things to get used to but with a good Guide it's easy. If you find yourself getting a bit tired of fishing the same crowded areas with very small flies and very light tippet, the remedy is a float on a large freestone river. Go with the Guides we went with and you will not be disappointed.

We continued downstream switching between a big nasty nymph rig and a hopper dropper combo. The hopper dropper was great to cast and added the element of a big bushy top water bug to the mix. I saw a few flashes just below the fly in the off color water but didn't wind up getting any takes on it. It did disappear frequently though. One second it's there and the next it's not. When it's not you set the hook and hold on.

Just as Hunter predicted we started getting into nicer and nicer bows the further toward Gunnnison we got. Both boats netted a 20" bow with several others in the 18" range. These were just icing on the cake. I have no idea how many fish we netted but I'd say somewhere around 40 total. Darren and Ben never asked to switch boats and I never brought it up! I would have switched but I just couldn't bring myself to walk away from the kind of fun I was having and neither one of them looked ready at all to jump ship.

I actually had a chance to catch up with Jason on the way back to Almont and he's a very cool Dude (see note below). Probably knows more about this river than anyone on the planet. He's put a ton of days on the water over the years and knows the river like the back of his hand. I'm so glad that Ben picked these guys for our trip. Ben hit a home run picking these guys and I recommend them 100%.

I'll finish up this friggin dissertation with some pictures of the bows we landed. Enjoy and do yourself a favor and take this trip! (BTW GRG - I'm willing to take any "referral" days we could perhaps earn from referring you to millions of readers).

Jason Booth with a Taylor Hawg!

Jason Booth: I did get a nagging feeling that I had seen Jason somewhere before when we met up that morning. I didn't think anything of it till I was talking to him on the way back. Turns out Jason is a good friend of Landon Mayer's and is in Landon's book, "Colorado's Best Fly Fishing" in the Taylor chapter. He gives some killer advise in the caption under this unforgettable photo - some advice that I use on the Taylor and some advice that led me to the biggest fish I ever caught on the Taylor (upcoming blog post). Buy the book! Well worth it.

Swimming in the Taylor

Thank God it stayed up at 500. I had been watching the flow on the Taylor for a week or two and
things had been looking good. I think it went from 80 or so to 400 and then crept its way up to 500. I've been saying for the last few years that if the Taylor hit 500 again I would quit my job if I had to and get my happy ass up there. Well... here I was a week into 500 flows looking at other people's slab pics.

Well we made it up this past Saturday and it didn't disappoint (for the most part).  The kick in the ass that I needed to get up there was that Marty had been cleared by his doctor to fish. This is a big deal since Marty hasn't gone fishing since our day on the Dream with -18 degree temps. We were toying with the idea of leaving Friday evening and camping but there was a good 10% chance that it would rain and that made me hate my tent. So we decided to go old school and do it in a day. Well soft old school.. we left at 4am instead of 1am.

And were the first to show at the bridge.... Winning! We decided to head up to the top of the public water and work our way down. We saw a bunch of reds on the way up that were particularly concentrated at and around the wire. We stopped to watch for a few minutes and then kept heading upstream. I didn't see any monsters in the top riffle. I was hoping a large trout that had led a quiet life eating shrimp cocktails above the public access had hastily wondered his way downstream in the heavy flow but that was just twisted wishful thinking.

It was tempting to take some casts at the wire but
we made the right choice and kept walking. It wasn't hard to find the feeding browns on the sides of the main channel. It also didn't take long for one of them to eat a Kleis's Mysis.This fly, San Juan Worms, eggs, and a chocolate DM midge all fished well in the morning. A #20 olive RS2 was hot in the afternoon. We hooked fished fairly consistently the whole day.

Marty wound up hooking more than just fish though... I saw him walking downstream towards me and he was saying something but I couldn't quite make it out. When he got closer I heard him say that he could use a hand. I couldn't really tell what he was talking about till he walked up to me and I saw the fly stuck in his face! Luckily it was a small fly and came out easily. Unfortunately this was not the end of Marty's bad luck.

We met some cool guys on this trip like Nick Pep who I happened to walk up on while he was netting this sweet bow! This was the biggest fish I saw or heard of being taken that day. Glad I was able to shoot him a pic! We also spoke to some cool guys at lunch and it turns out one of them, Stephen Hofer, follows my blog which is very cool!

The PM fishing was good but not as hot as the AM fishing. We did wind up hooking up quite a bit though and I had to ask Marty for help on a fish that I had foul hooked. He was downstream from me and I figured I could use some net help. Marty grabbed his net and was getting into position when the fish ran right at his legs. Marty did good to avoid the line but had to take a step backwards in the river and that spelled DUNK. Luckily we were it light current so it was just a quick dunk but if you have ever taken a 42 degree dunk you know exactly what kind of wake up call it is! Nothing like freezing water going down your waders to remind you that you are alive! The best part..... all of it is on the GoPro :-) For those of you reading this in an email I grabbed this quick screen shot of Marty getting his heart settled back down into his chest (video below). I think most of us know exactly how Marty is feeling in this pic!

One noticeable absence on this trip was the BIG (8lb +) fish. Not because we didn't hook any but because I didn't really see many. I think they know how to use the big flow. I dredged in the Avalanche hole for a while but I couldn't hit bottom in the deepest section. I did see some big fish in the fast section between the Avalanche Hole and the Speed Limit Hole. They were holding in pockets that were just about impossible to get to. Even if you did hook one it would be damn near impossible to land it in that heavy water. Trout continue to amaze me.

Great to have The Mart back on the water. Never a dull moment Bud! Really cool to meet Nick and Stephen as well! Hope to see you Dudes on the water again.


MARTY SWIM from Jamie Roth on Vimeo.

Frozen Sun Screen on the Taylor

You learn things when you are a ginger. Things non-gingers may not learn. One of those things is that sun screen will freeze solid. And when that happens you can decide to keep fishing and risk a painful week of batman eyes and ridicule, or you can sit in the car with the heater cranked directly on your bottle of life saving copper tone and warm up enough to feel your face again. I decided to warm up and avoid the lobster skin.

And I needed to warm up. Air temp was -5 when we started fishing at 7:30 and the wind was whipping. It was all I could do to flick a few yards of line out and stiffly rotate like a robot as I followed my indicator downstream. Hook sets were extremely delayed. Dad hooked up first and a 14" brown came up to the surface. "Ah damn it..... get off"..... Hmm... we are freezing our asses off standing in a mountain river in January fishing and we don't really want to hook a fish. Why? because the release part of catch and release will require you to take your gloves off  and hold your hands underwater. I had a moment of self doubt. What the hell was I doing? Why was I fishing when I didn't really want to catch a fish (under 24")? Why are we the only ones fishing one of the most pressured tailwaters in Colorado on a Saturday?

The reason showed up before the sun hit the water. Not the biggest fish in the run but a super nice male brownie. As soon as you see a fish like that on the end of your line everything else goes away. The weather was cold but the fishing was hot. We pulled at least a dozen fish out of the Avalanche Hole before 9:30.

All in all it was a good day of fishing. We both caught double digits and we had fairly steady action throughout the day. The hot pattern for me is what I call a Grinch Egg. It's a chartreuse egg tied on a red hook with a white halo. Killer pattern all over the place.  

I think we had a first on this trip. My Dad managed to switch flies in the hotel room the night before! He was rigged up and ready to go and I was tying some of my leach patterns and he couldn't resist :-)

Taylor River

High Adventure this weekend in the mountains of Colorado. Living life to the fullest and coming home to tell about it - doesn't get any better than that!

Destination Taylor River this trip. Ben Lewis and I were at our company's national sales meeting in Vegas this week. We had planned on going to the Taylor this weekend with my Dad and Marty and planned on leaving Friday night as soon as Ben and I were back in town. Bone head idea which I have to take full credit for. Not a relaxing week and when I walked in the house to drop one bag for another (already in zombie autopilot mode) I realized what an a-hole move it was..... OK so making it up to the Fam today, hold off on the hate mail!

On to the fishing and we'll wrap it up with a small but significant near death experience (for those that wan't to skip the ramble, head to the "We don't got it" section). We arrived in Gunnison around 8PM and grabbed lunch for the next day at Subway. The guy that snores the loudest insisted on stopping by Safeway for some ear plugs. After I bought my plugs we headed to the hotel to rig up. Within 5 minutes our Super 8 room looked like a fly shop. Lamp shades off the lamps, gear spread out everywhere, at least 8 rods being worked on like helpless patients. About an hour or so later we were ready, lights off, queue the snoring.

Dad with a sweet cutty

We hit the water at 8. Not a soul in sight! Ben and I decided to pick out some hogs to cast to. We found a few huge bows around the bridge. I'm sure one pushed 30 inches. It was massive. These guys don't get big on accident. You can lay out a 7x, split shotless, indicatorless rig on a bed of feathers and they'll swim off. At one point I headed up the hill on the far side of the Avalanche hole to spot for Ben. My legs slid out from under me in the snow and I went down. SNAP!!! I looked down and my net had taken the full weight of my fall. It was broken in three places. Crap... We continued to site fish for about an hour. We had some looks but no takes. It was friggin cold and Dad and Marty were having luck dredging the Avalanche hole so we decided to join them. 

Dad and Marty dialed in quick and were consistently catching fish. Ben and I struggled for most of the day. Dad had the drop off going into the Avalanche hole nailed. He was casting far enough upstream to get his flies down right along the drop off. As soon as he cleared the drop off, BAM! Tan sparkle worms and beadhead blood midges were killing it for him. Marty was fishing the slack water on the near side of the main channel. He had a cool technique going where he would cast into the still water, wait for some sort of drift and if his indicator wasn't drifting he'd give it a little twitch to get it moving. He was getting a ton of takes during the twitch and when the flies were settling. #26 midge pupa in black, red, green were working great for him.

Ben and I weren't so skilled. We were hooking up but they were few and far between. I decided to head to the far side of the Avalanche hole in order to reach the main current without so much slack line on the water. After finding a good drift around the massive fly shop bush that inhabits the bottom of this hole, I dialed in my depth. A few casts later I had a subtle take and set the hook. I immediately new it was a big fish. I saw the white of his mouth through a couple of big sweeping head shakes. Yes!!!! Oh no!!! I don't have a net.... I knew he was on my #22 midge so I had to be careful with him until someone with a net could help out. This guy was behaving well and hanging deep. As soon as my Dad made it over he went on two long runs. I had already had him on for over a minute and knew that those small barbless hooks don't stay in long. My Ross Evolution LT 1.5 handled it without issue. Love that reel!  Dad made a nice net job and he was landed! He went 23" and had a huge head on him with nice big spots. Probably the nicest brown I've landed on the Taylor. Unfortunately that was about it for large fish. This guy took one of my Miracle Nymphs (future post) with a nickle tungsten bead and some brown quick descent dubbing. I tried the same fly later on in the day up in a riffle by the bridge and missed a HUGE bow on it. I only had him on for a second but he came up and broke the water just long enough to tease me. Good fly that was put together at tie night at the Covey!

It was a good day all around. Everyone caught fish and we landed a trophy. Little did we know that the excitement was far from over.

-WE DON'T GOT IT-

It was snowing pretty good throughout the day on the river. We were thinking that Monarch Pass was going to be rough but we got up and over it without issue. The further we got into South Park though the worse the weather got. Heavy snow and slush covered icy roads were starting to form. We were a little worn out and were probably going a little too fast. Marty's Durango was handling it fine so we weren't too worried. As we came up to a bridge the tail end broke loose. We started fish tailing.... A collective wooooooaaaahhhhhh came out.. Marty: Hold on we got it..... Me: You got it man, you got it.... Ben: WE'RE DEAD..... Dad: (we would later find out had already closed his eyes and was thinking that he almost made it to the first social security check he was due to receive next month. I picture that seen in Happy Gilmore with my Dad sitting on a golf course with social security checks falling from the sky)..... Me: We got it man, you got it.... it... it...... (back end comes around).... shit -  WE DON'T GOT IT!....... hold on! At this point all I could see were guard rails as the back end came around. I was in the front passenger seat and just as we were de-roading I got a birds eye view of the embankment that we were about to head down. I absolutely knew for SURE that we were going to roll. Marty somehow straightened us up enough to go down the embankment at an angle and we stayed upright! No WAY!!! We were down the embankment but we were still stepping in it. The Durango wouldn't stop. We were sliding backwards toward who knows what. At this point things got pretty surreal. The slide down the embankment wasn't rough at all.  We were all sitting upright and pretty comfortable... We were all just looking out the window as we slid backwards like we were taking the scenic route somewhere and were relaxing to take in the sites. It was super quite and we just kept sliding. Crazy!!!! Eventually we came to a stop - Dad: Where are we what happend???.... Everyone else: Jaws on the floorboard. WE ARE ALIVE!!!!! Me: THAT WAS AWESOME!........ Ben: THAT WAS NOT AWESOME!!! .......Dad opened the door and snow was up to the bottom of the door. All of a sudden we realized we were WAY off the road in 2-3ft snow. This was going to be a pain in the ASS!!! Marty, on autopilot at this point, started the truck. I flipped the switch to 4L... Dad instinctively knew to close the door.. Marty started rocking the Durango back and forth. We got traction and started moving!!!! HOLY CRAP.... We picked up speed as we headed up the embankment....... Next Problem: We were going to launch back up onto the road like some huge white 4WD Elk with no way of knowing who was coming. We all were straining our necks trying to see if any lights were coming. No lights as we launched back up on the road!!! NO WAY WE JUST DROVE AWAY FROM THAT!!!!!! AH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! AWESOME!!!! We spent the next hour breaking down every second of what seemed like an hour of sliding around in a big white sled. We did slow WAY down... and had a line of cars behind us. Didn't care. We were not going through that again! We made it home and the story telling was ON!! Great time! This is one for the history books.. or blogs anyway. Glad everyone made it through unscathed to live through our next adventure. Love you guys! Can't wait for the next trip!

Nice brown Marty caught