Gunnison and Taylor River Trip - Mid Sept.

For anyone who may have missed all of the photos and short clips we have posted on our fb page we decided to share these on CFFM -including a few we didn't get around to posting. We had an amazing first trip to the Gunnison river valley this year and look forward to a few more visits as it's only going to get better! Unlike many of Colorado's rivers the East, Taylor, and the Gunnison from the confluence down did not get devastated by flooding.

They still have the blockade in place on the East river at the Roaring Judy fish hatchery, and they are again not letting fish get up stream from that point so don't bother with the East if you're looking for salmon. Flows on the East averaged anywhere from 200-300 c.f.s. but expect that to come down to it's usual fall levels if we can avoid getting another 16 inches of rain in a single day... The Taylor river coming out of the dam was running around 198 c.f.s. the entire second week of Sept. which is an excellent flow, and the crowds were aware of this also. The parking area was full by 8 a.m. both days we fished it.

It was the typical Taylor river experience. There were dry fly purists, guys deliberately foul hooking fish, and we didn't see a whole lot of rods bent most of the day. I did lose several fish in the 10lb class in and just above the Avalanche hole, and managed several 12-18 inch colorful browns to the net as we moved around the C and R. We still had a ton of fun despite these things! The Taylor river is always a challenging break from salmon slaying on the Gunni.

Salmon fishing on the Gunnison started slow for us. Flows were kind of high compared to previous Septembers and locating fish was difficult, combined with the fact that it took adding 5-6 BB sized shot on our leaders to get down low enough and quick enough with our egg patterns to catch fish. Once we figured all of this out we were in salmon and having a blast. It was obvious we were still early because the numbers of fish were low, and the fight in these Kokes was impressive! As the days get shorter and the water gets lower and colder look for more salmon to be there from the confluence down.

This was a family experience as most of our fishing trips are, and the fun we had really shows in the photos. Our little family drastically needed this vacay! Kristen has been working her tail off in her full time job as a NICU nurse taking care of sick babies, and this was by far my busiest year as a full time guide, writer, tyer, and photo/videographer. Things don't seem to be getting any less busy so being sure to take some time to have these little adventures together has been important to us.

It's so rewarding to see other anglers reactions to Bree being on the water while we fish! The typical reaction being "starting her young?! I like that!" For those of you who we haven't told this story, Bree's inaugural trip was on Antero Reservoir in early April during a cold windy day two months after she was born! She's no stranger to the outdoors. It's also cool to see how excited Bree is to play with other anglers fishing companions a.k.a. puppies. We don't have enough space at home yet to own a dog so Bree loves playing fetch and having fun with them. And -knock on wood- Bree hasn't shown to much of her dark toddler side yet, not that she has too much of a dark toddler side to begin with...

The best thing that anyone can do who is trying to get someone into fishing is put them in a spot where they can catch fish, and salmon fishing on the East river before they put the blockade up is exactly how I got Kristen turned into a true troutbum. She looks forward all year to Kokanee salmon fishing like I look forward to carp fishing or throwing size 24 Tricos in 11 Mile Canyon, and I can't say that I blame her. These fish pull hard and are beautiful. Here's a few photos from this Sept. on the Gunni...

Kristen with big fish of the trip!

Fresh...

My first Gunni river rainbow and man are they colorful!

This first short video clip above is a blooper reel that I thought was awesome! Kristen was a head dodge away from getting some face jewelry as this salmon jumped and spit the hook at her while I was recording in slow motion! Quick reflexes indeed... Check it out in HD!


This clip is me hooking up with a dry fly on the Taylor. We had to share it because Bree was playing in the background and being adorable. Thankyou again fellow anglers and readers for your support!

Permanent Blockade At Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery

Many of you may have tried to catch the salmon run above Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery, and were left wondering where are all the salmon?  Kristen and I have gone up there twice, once around the end of September and the second time was around the middle of October, and both times there wasn't a single Koke in the East River above the hatchery.  We were relegated to fishing the Gunnison from the confluence down if we wanted to catch salmon.

The second attempt to find fish on the East we stopped and asked the guys at the shop in Almont where all the fish were, and they told us that there was a blockade put up at Roaring Judy preventing the salmon from migrating any further than the hatchery.  As far as anyone can tell the blockade is suppose to be up indefinitely, which means until further word there won't be any more opportunities to catch salmon on the East because all of the property along the river below the hatchery is private.  Good thing there was a decent run of Kokes on the Dream Stream which hopefully will see a resurgence.

From what I've been told a large majority of the stocked Kokanee in Colorado come from the milking program at Roaring Judy so anglers shouldn't be too upset as long as we see numbers rise in other areas.  Of course the blockade could have been put up in preparation for drought and potentially smaller runs do to climate change, and the fish might be allowed to run past the hatchery in the future during wetter seasons.  Also the Gunnison river fished fantastic for big Kokes and big Browns so it's not a total loss.

Kristen with a Gunnison River  Salmon

Again news of the blockade was just word of mouth and I haven't talked to CDOW or anyone that works for the hatchery.  When I find out something concrete and get all the details I'll give you an update.

Kokanee Release Footage Short

Here is a short video of Kristen releasing some Kokes on the Gunni.  The footage was taken pre stabilizer rig, and pre underwater focus correcting housing for the gopro.  So it's not as stable as we would like and the focus underwater is half of what it's going to be in about a week, but we figured we'd share anyways.  Hope you enjoy!



Salmon Fishing The Gunni from coloradoflyfisher on Vimeo.

Kokanee Salmon Populations

I was having a conversation the other day with friend and fellow guide John Gordon about the dwindling Kokanee Salmon run that comes out of 11mile reservoir.  The last 3 years have been dismal at best and it seems to be getting progressively worse.  The most salmon I had seen this fall in the Dreamstream was a pod of 15-20 fish that were staged right above the gauging station bridge.  The following week I searched the entire river from Spinney dam down to 11mile reservoir expecting a large late run of Kokanee and spotted a total of 3 fish.  The days when the river turned red making it almost impossible to cross without stepping on a salmon seem to be a thing of the past.  The questions we should be asking are why and what can be done, if anything, to bring back those epic runs?




I told John G. that I had talked to several different game wardens about 4 years ago and they told me that the fish in the reservoir are suffering from gill lice.  Not knowing much about gill lice I did some research and they are nasty little critters.  The lice are typically found when water conditions are poor, and they damage a fishery by making homes in the gills of the various fish species making it harder for them to breath and absorb oxygen.  But all indications hint that the gill lice hold on 11 Mile reservoir is over and has been for the past couple of years.

When the question was posed on the Anglers Covey forum (why are the runs weak?) it was also brought to my attention by owner David Leinweber that the current stocking program for Kokanee is not ideal for good Kokanee runs.  The current program has the state stocking larger Kokanee into the reservoir to try and keep the population of hungry Northern Pike from destroying salmon numbers right out of the gate.  The problem with that is when it is time for salmon to spawn they tend to migrate to where they were planted.




If they were planted in 11 mile reservoir then do the math...  The program is great for the guys trolling around in boats on the lake but what about the rest of us anglers that like to sight fish and catch kokanee in the river?  John sent me an email the following day of an article he found that provides very promising news that there is still hope to recover what we have lost.  The most intriguing part of the article is the fact that this year was a record year for harvesting Kokanee eggs for breeding in Colorado.  And that they plant almost as many fingerling salmon in the East River by Roaring Judy Fish Hatchery as they do in Blue Mesa Reservoir.  Blue Mesa is where the mature salmon live and migrate from as they work their way up the Gunnison and East river back to the hatchery where they were born.  Blue Mesa is also home to the current state record Mackinaw which is another major predator of the Kokanee.




The reason we still see the occasional kokanee in the Dreamstream in the fall is because even though they were stocked in the reservoir they also have instincts telling them to migrate up river to spawn.  This has me wondering why they don't do the same thing for the South Platte that they do for the East.  And that is stock as many salmon in the river as they do in 11 mile res. and stock them as fingerlings.  That way the year class of kokanee that were stocked in the lake would theoretically follow the salmon that were stocked in the river up to spawn and we can all bend our rods on these insanely strong fish without having to drive 3 hours once again.  If they can do it for Blue Mesa inspite of the large predatory Lake Trout then they can do it for 11 Mile with its Northern Pike.




There is one more thing that has always bothered me I feel needs to be changed that I want to share and then I will get off my soap box.  The current limit for harvesting salmon in 11 Mile Reservoir is 10!  That number is way too high.  Not that most anglers trolling around in their boats are pulling in those kind of numbers, but if the limit was 2 on a day when some guy managed to land 7 then that many more salmon will live and have a chance to spawn.  I'm sorry guys I know salmon tastes amazing but 10 fish is an extreme overkill. 




The current salmon limit also opens the door for unethical fishing practices because when a salmon is only in it's 2nd or 3rd year of life and has not fully matured it looks remarkably like a trout.  It is way too easy for someone to keep more than the legal limit of trout by claiming they thought they were catching Kokanee salmon. If you're asking me if people deliberately do that kind of thing I would respond with, "I have seen worse".  At the risk of making some greedy state politician or brass from the Division of Wildlife angry, I would urge any sportsman or woman that pay the high cost for a fishing license every season to demand more for our fisheries. 




If enough people wrote the Division Of Wildlife   http://wildlife.state.co.us/Pages/Home.aspx and pushed for some kind of effort to be made on fixing problems such as this, and maybe even provide some kind of intelligent solutions we would all benifit.  Click here to read the article John G. showed me about this years record harvest of eggs.  For more information on all things flyfishing including ways to improve our states fisheries please subscribe to www.coloradoflyfisher.blogspot.com.



Tight lines and screaming reels!

Photos From Round 2 On The East River

Here we are back on the East River to finish filming the salmon instructional video I promised you guys and I figured I'd share some photos from this trip. The fall colors on the trees as you can tell were incredible and the salmon were everywhere and starting to show some color as well. Kristen hooked up and landed several nice salmon including that hook jawed male in the photo where she isnt wearing her hat.

Salmon Slaying On The East River

Sorry I havent posted anything new for you guys the last week and a half.  Ive been a guiding, fly tying, flyfishing, video making, picture taking fool!  That being said the East river already has a carp ton of kokanee in it and they are fresh.  I dont know how many of you trout bums have caught kokes when they have just entered a river system to spawn but they fight hard and are eager to hit an egg pattern!  We had a lot of anglers approach Kristen and I on this trip because we were the only people out of 6 fishing on our stretch consistently bruising lips and they asked us repeatedly what our secret was so Ive decided that next week we are going to go out with the camera equipment and shoot a video on my techniques for catching salmon in Colorado.  Stay posted!  For now I hope these pics wet your appetite and you get a chance to go out and take advantage of our poor mans Alaska! 

Click on the photos to enlarge so you can see the piece of bbq left in my teeth from lunch on the first salmon pic...

Kristen with her first kokanee salmon!  I think the smile on her face
sais it all.

  

Kristen with another of the many kokanee whos lips she bruised.
This is literally her second time flyfishing and she made it look easy
when other anglers were getting their butt handed to them. 
Video on salmon fishing coming soon!

The view from the top of Cottonwood Pass on our way to the East river

Daddy and Bree upset because they had to stop fishing and go home.

still upset...

Bree's over it, daddy's still devastated.

Its ok papa the fish will be there next week!

Tight Lines Everybody!