Taylor River Weekend Trip
So some close friends as well as friends from the CO fishing forum met up for an epic weekend of catching pig after pig on the Taylor River... I gotta say, that place really lives up to its name...
We arrived at the cabins in Almont around 8:30pm as the sun was going down on Friday. Everyone was in a great mood from having a drink or two on the way up, and brought a cooler with us to the river for an evening of fishing. I didn't really know what to expect that night, but everyone hooked up to a few nice fish and the biggest of the night was a 23" bow. I pulled in this 20" brown on a #22 jujubee at about 1:45am, and then called it quits to sleep for all of two hours until it was time to get up and fish for the day.
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The next day (when we could actually see these fish), I was dumbfounded by these monsters just hanging out in the shallows of this river. Easy to spot down by the bridge, but as we made our way towards the dam the water was much faster and tougher to spot the big ones. It took me a little while, but I was finally able to spot these guys in the faster water moving around and caught a few more pigs myself. This 22" pig was caught on a #20 flashback black beauty midge.
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Later on the day, I spotted this old bastard in the shallows (wasn't too hard to see him, he was so freakin huge!)... A couple casts and I hooked into this absolute monster. He took the FB BB as well. Gave me a some awesome runs across the river a couple times, but he got relatively tired quick and sat there like a log a few times as well.
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Awesome fish, and awesomely big... he tipped the scales at 9 lbs and taped out at 28". We named him "Old Man Taylor." We think he was a cuttbow, not completely sure though. The funny thing is, he wasn't even the biggest fish I hooked :o... Down in the deepest pool of the C&R area below the bridge, we saw some fish porpoising in the large eddy in front of us taking emergers. Some of those fish had to be 30+ inches... I wind drifted my rig through there just as we saw them coming up again, I saw a slow side flash of the biggest rainbow I'd ever seen in person, and set the hook. This thing took off into the deep pool, which was estimated at about 20 ft. deep, and just sat there. The tension from my line in the current popped the fly, and that was that. Very cool experience though to have a fish that big on the line. I'll get him someday though. Can't complain too much, I caught this 24" bow in the flats just above that deep hole.
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All in all a great trip, very cool place to hunt for some real monsters. Beautifully colored up browns and rainbows from the mysis, just like on the Blue River. I think the average catch was around 19", and site fishing for these brutes is a real trip!
Re: Taylor River Weekend Trip
What a beautiful fish. The pinkish/red stripes on those fish are stunning. It might not be the most exciting place, but the chance of catching a monster keeps you interested and glued there for hours!
Re: Taylor River Weekend Trip
Well that's another place on the bucket list!!! Great fish guys!!!
Re: Taylor River Weekend Trip
Holy crap! Those are some BIG fish! Looks like an awesome trip man!
Re: Taylor River Weekend Trip
The Taylor River is most definitely an awesome place to hunt some monsters. However, the C&R area is pretty small (just a little over 1/4 mile stretch), and gets really crowded. Beyond that, it is all private water until you hit the town of Almont where the confluence of the Taylor and the East River are. As soon as Memorial Day hits that place is a madhouse. I would say its a once or twice a year destination. Otherwise, the novelty wears off and you get spoiled with so many fish over 20 inches. I think its much more rewarding to pull out a monster on a river not necessarily known for mutants like on the Taylor. That's not to say, you still need to be on top of your game to spot those fish in the fast water, use heavy weight and perfect presentation to get them to bite. There is definitely still some challenge there.
Currently, the state record cutthroat and rainbow trout were both caught in that section. They have shocked that stretch of river and recorded fish in the 40" range.... So the potential for the catch of a lifetime is most definitely in there.... :o I should be back in the wintertime or maybe for some night fishing this summer/fall.
Re: Taylor River Weekend Trip
Great fish, been a few years since l fished there, gho me thinking about a return before too long.
DW
Re: Taylor River Weekend Trip
