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Fished streams, including the gunnison river among others, in the area the past 2 days. Fishing was slow both days except for one of the streams, but its fish were small
Started in the gunnison river below blue mesa dam. We fished the legal area of course. I was disappointed to see very little flow coming from blue mesa dam on saturday. (on sunday when I didn't fish it, there was a nice flow which would've made for fantastic fishing...go figure.) I caught a 13 1/8" fat little rainbow on my second cast though. I was pleased to see a rainbow since whirling disease hammered this river most. After about another hour of fishing various spots I had only one more hit which I missed, and then my dad hooked something. It really spooled him a lot, and when he finally caught it, we thought it was about an 18" lake trout, which probably came form blue mesa. Turns out it was a SPLAKE trout because it didn't have a very deep fork in the tail and it had worm shape patterns on its back like a brookie and unlike a laker. Definitely cool and not expected. It fought very hard compared to a laker my dad said. We know it was a splake trout for sure though because of something that happened later. We then went upstream a little more. I threw out a worm near the other shore and pulled it off the dropoff and saw a flash. The rod almost jerked out of my hands! I brought it in and it was a 22" lake trout. It was skinny so probably about 3 1/3 pounds. It was definitely a laker, very orange fins unlike the splake and a deeply forked tail. It also had spots on its back, but not wormlike patterns. My dad threw a cast out and he caught about a 3 lb. rainbow. It was very fat and 17 3/16" in length. It was a pretty fish. I went upstream a little more and cast in between 3 rocks in a hole that looked very deep. I had a strike almost immediately when I was jigging the worm, and landed a 16" rainbow that was fat and beautifully colored. It was a male and had a bit of a hook jaw still. After taking a picture of this, we were out of film which sucks because we caught better fish later.I didn't get anymore strikes for a while and neither did my dad. He then shouts out about 30 minutes later that he has something huge. I run down the river, wade a bit, scale a small cliff, and then I'm back where he is. He still hasn't landed it. He gets it in and it is a 22.5" brown that was built nicely. It wasn't skinny by any means but it wasn't football shaped either. It was probably about 5 pounds. He decided to take a nap after that, it was about 2 pm and we had been fishing for 4 hours hard, but didn't have good numbers to show for it but good quality of fish. I walked up to as far as you are allowed to fish it and waded out on a submerged island I remembered was there from the last time I was there. I hooked an ~12" brown that spit the hook at my legs. After another 30 hard minutes of fishing and no hit, I decided to fish back where my dad was because that was the best looking hole. I get back and he was just getting up from his nap. Still in a daze, he casts out and immediately gets a strike. He sets the hook and in comes a 13" cuttbow. I cast out while he was battling the fish just to annoy him. I didn't think I'd get a hit, I really didn't. I got a hit though, a strike that was just plain and simply a hammer. I set the hook and a large fish jumps! He goes airborne and I follow him downstream while my dad was just releasing his cuttbow. I follow him roughly 50 yards downstream over steep rocks and deep bank and finally land him, a 19" female bow that looked like it had a drinking problem because of its huge beer belly. I went back up to the hole and we had definitely found the spot. for about 30 minutes before the sun came back out we were getting hits left and right. We each caught a couple more fish, assorted browns and bows (both cutbows and rainbows) between 13 and 17". My dad then thought it would be funny if he casted out where I was just wading because there was a big rock there. He jigged the worm and said he saw a flash! I thought he was lying, but then he sets the hook and a fish jumps! He brings it in rather easily and it was a 19" lake trout that was very pretty. We then only had 2 worms left and it was about 5 pm or so. I steal both of the worms and run upstream to a hole that I caught 2 out of earlier. I throw out the cast in there and set the pole down to get a drink of gatorade. I barely got to quench my thirst! The rod was doubling over and if I hadn't propped it up on a big rock it would've been pulled in. I battled the fish for a few minutes (boy was he strong!) and brought him in and it was a 20" male rainbow with a hook jaw. He was lip hooked which was a surprise since it was still fishing. I let him go and then put on the last half of the last worm. I cast out and jigged it. I had another bone crunching strike! The fish went airborne and I got him right almost to my feet; he was a brown that I would guess to be 17". He spit the hook. Knowing the best fishing was around the corner, we left since we were out of worms. My dad ended up with 10 fish (5 different species) and I ended up with 8 fish (4 different species). That splake he caught was out of left field for sure. I didn't know blue mesa or the gunnison river had any at all? ??? The good thing was every single fish was lip hooked and released very quickly and easily. We then went to eat mexican food and after that found a place to camp.
We got up at 5:30 and my dad decided he was still tired. We then got up at 9:30. (I know...lazy). We decided to fish a small stream we had fished before and caught a few pretty cutts, although small,out of it. we got there at around 10:15 or so and right off the road I found a nice little pool, although it was inaccessible from the brush and depth of the stream. So I decided to try a technique I had heard of before; freespooling. The idea is to get a large leaf (which was easy to find) put the worm on top of it, then let the leaf float down then reel the worm off so it is in the pool. I did this and was rewarded right away with a fiesty 8" brookie. We didn't even know they were in the stream, but that was one of many more surprises. My dad got down to another hole and caught 3 fish right away, 2 brookies and a small, but beautiful cutthroat trout. After that, there were some fantastic holes but some people had already fished them. (we saw them and talked to them) Sadly they were spooked. We knew there were some nice pools farther down, but a pain in the ass to walk to and steep and plenty of poison ivy! Sounds like a good place since most people won't want to walk there. We then fished various pools in a quarter mile stretch for 2 hours and he landed 7 more trout, and I landed 7 more trout. We landed various brook trout, cutthroat trout, and rainbow trout between 5 and 13" in length. It was about 1:00 now and we wanted to fish the gunnison river below morrow point dam. This would turn out to be our largest mistake of the day, since they were releasing so much water. We walked around and found two holes. We thought they would be great fishing. It turns out there was too much current everywhere, even curly tails on 1/2 oz. jigheads couldn't get to the bottom of some of these holes we were fishing because the holes were so deep and the current so powerful. My dad, as lucky as he was this trip, caught a 2 lb. rainbow. I had a very hard strike, set the hook, and fought a fish for all of 5 seconds before it snapped my line like nothing! I had one more strike, and that was it. At about 5 we decided to leave.
Well, it was an interesting trip to say the least, my dad caught 21 fish and I caught 16 fish. He caught 7 species of fish and I caught 6. Definitely slow fishing in the gunnison river...at least for the gunnison. The little streams were fun to fish though. We let every fish we caught go on this trip unharmed. We hooked every single fish in the lip and caught every one of them on worms, which shows baitfishing, when done properly, can have no mortality.
Fished streams, including the gunnison river among others, in the area the past 2 days. Fishing was slow both days except for one of the streams, but its fish were small
Started in the gunnison river below blue mesa dam. We fished the legal area of course. I was disappointed to see very little flow coming from blue mesa dam on saturday. (on sunday when I didn't fish it, there was a nice flow which would've made for fantastic fishing...go figure.) I caught a 13 1/8" fat little rainbow on my second cast though. I was pleased to see a rainbow since whirling disease hammered this river most. After about another hour of fishing various spots I had only one more hit which I missed, and then my dad hooked something. It really spooled him a lot, and when he finally caught it, we thought it was about an 18" lake trout, which probably came form blue mesa. Turns out it was a SPLAKE trout because it didn't have a very deep fork in the tail and it had worm shape patterns on its back like a brookie and unlike a laker. Definitely cool and not expected. It fought very hard compared to a laker my dad said. We know it was a splake trout for sure though because of something that happened later. We then went upstream a little more. I threw out a worm near the other shore and pulled it off the dropoff and saw a flash. The rod almost jerked out of my hands! I brought it in and it was a 22" lake trout. It was skinny so probably about 3 1/3 pounds. It was definitely a laker, very orange fins unlike the splake and a deeply forked tail. It also had spots on its back, but not wormlike patterns. My dad threw a cast out and he caught about a 3 lb. rainbow. It was very fat and 17 3/16" in length. It was a pretty fish. I went upstream a little more and cast in between 3 rocks in a hole that looked very deep. I had a strike almost immediately when I was jigging the worm, and landed a 16" rainbow that was fat and beautifully colored. It was a male and had a bit of a hook jaw still. After taking a picture of this, we were out of film which sucks because we caught better fish later.I didn't get anymore strikes for a while and neither did my dad. He then shouts out about 30 minutes later that he has something huge. I run down the river, wade a bit, scale a small cliff, and then I'm back where he is. He still hasn't landed it. He gets it in and it is a 22.5" brown that was built nicely. It wasn't skinny by any means but it wasn't football shaped either. It was probably about 5 pounds. He decided to take a nap after that, it was about 2 pm and we had been fishing for 4 hours hard, but didn't have good numbers to show for it but good quality of fish. I walked up to as far as you are allowed to fish it and waded out on a submerged island I remembered was there from the last time I was there. I hooked an ~12" brown that spit the hook at my legs. After another 30 hard minutes of fishing and no hit, I decided to fish back where my dad was because that was the best looking hole. I get back and he was just getting up from his nap. Still in a daze, he casts out and immediately gets a strike. He sets the hook and in comes a 13" cuttbow. I cast out while he was battling the fish just to annoy him. I didn't think I'd get a hit, I really didn't. I got a hit though, a strike that was just plain and simply a hammer. I set the hook and a large fish jumps! He goes airborne and I follow him downstream while my dad was just releasing his cuttbow. I follow him roughly 50 yards downstream over steep rocks and deep bank and finally land him, a 19" female bow that looked like it had a drinking problem because of its huge beer belly. I went back up to the hole and we had definitely found the spot. for about 30 minutes before the sun came back out we were getting hits left and right. We each caught a couple more fish, assorted browns and bows (both cutbows and rainbows) between 13 and 17". My dad then thought it would be funny if he casted out where I was just wading because there was a big rock there. He jigged the worm and said he saw a flash! I thought he was lying, but then he sets the hook and a fish jumps! He brings it in rather easily and it was a 19" lake trout that was very pretty. We then only had 2 worms left and it was about 5 pm or so. I steal both of the worms and run upstream to a hole that I caught 2 out of earlier. I throw out the cast in there and set the pole down to get a drink of gatorade. I barely got to quench my thirst! The rod was doubling over and if I hadn't propped it up on a big rock it would've been pulled in. I battled the fish for a few minutes (boy was he strong!) and brought him in and it was a 20" male rainbow with a hook jaw. He was lip hooked which was a surprise since it was still fishing. I let him go and then put on the last half of the last worm. I cast out and jigged it. I had another bone crunching strike! The fish went airborne and I got him right almost to my feet; he was a brown that I would guess to be 17". He spit the hook. Knowing the best fishing was around the corner, we left since we were out of worms. My dad ended up with 10 fish (5 different species) and I ended up with 8 fish (4 different species). That splake he caught was out of left field for sure. I didn't know blue mesa or the gunnison river had any at all? ??? The good thing was every single fish was lip hooked and released very quickly and easily. We then went to eat mexican food and after that found a place to camp.
We got up at 5:30 and my dad decided he was still tired. We then got up at 9:30. (I know...lazy). We decided to fish a small stream we had fished before and caught a few pretty cutts, although small,out of it. we got there at around 10:15 or so and right off the road I found a nice little pool, although it was inaccessible from the brush and depth of the stream. So I decided to try a technique I had heard of before; freespooling. The idea is to get a large leaf (which was easy to find) put the worm on top of it, then let the leaf float down then reel the worm off so it is in the pool. I did this and was rewarded right away with a fiesty 8" brookie. We didn't even know they were in the stream, but that was one of many more surprises. My dad got down to another hole and caught 3 fish right away, 2 brookies and a small, but beautiful cutthroat trout. After that, there were some fantastic holes but some people had already fished them. (we saw them and talked to them) Sadly they were spooked. We knew there were some nice pools farther down, but a pain in the ass to walk to and steep and plenty of poison ivy! Sounds like a good place since most people won't want to walk there. We then fished various pools in a quarter mile stretch for 2 hours and he landed 7 more trout, and I landed 7 more trout. We landed various brook trout, cutthroat trout, and rainbow trout between 5 and 13" in length. It was about 1:00 now and we wanted to fish the gunnison river below morrow point dam. This would turn out to be our largest mistake of the day, since they were releasing so much water. We walked around and found two holes. We thought they would be great fishing. It turns out there was too much current everywhere, even curly tails on 1/2 oz. jigheads couldn't get to the bottom of some of these holes we were fishing because the holes were so deep and the current so powerful. My dad, as lucky as he was this trip, caught a 2 lb. rainbow. I had a very hard strike, set the hook, and fought a fish for all of 5 seconds before it snapped my line like nothing! I had one more strike, and that was it. At about 5 we decided to leave.
Well, it was an interesting trip to say the least, my dad caught 21 fish and I caught 16 fish. He caught 7 species of fish and I caught 6. Definitely slow fishing in the gunnison river...at least for the gunnison. The little streams were fun to fish though. We let every fish we caught go on this trip unharmed. We hooked every single fish in the lip and caught every one of them on worms, which shows baitfishing, when done properly, can have no mortality.
