Fall CoWW Outing To Gunnison River Valley 07Sep21-12Sep21

Rob arrived on time Tue eve in COS after driving home from his annual dove hunt with Chris Labac & fam. He was a smidge wobbly but sharp witted from no work for a week already - and ready for another such experience with the CoWW. We hit Cerberus right off and then slept soundly before heading from Colo Spgs to Gunnison Co via Cottonwood pass. The car & gear were prepped & packed so we made good time to our first order of biz - assembling the team, having some nosh and establishing the Kokanee attack plan for our first afternoon. We got the separate-driving and newly anointed CoWW master member Andy Holley, who was toting Yoho, and new CoWW big bro Brown together at the 3 Rivers Smokehouse to discuss things.

Steve had arrived earlier and observed the confluence (of Taylor & East) area yielding Kokanee to a team of 4 fisherman. The Blue Mesa to Roaring Judy hatchery, on the East River, salmon run was on! We birthed the attack to hit the Confluence Hole ASAP. We tried to check in but were before allowed time so then donned the gear and headed to the Gunnison's start. There we met "The Hole Commander," a Marlboro-smoking, know-a-lot, salmon-snaggin', self-appointed, controller of the fishing spot. He was very willing to aggressively share his tactics but quickly disappointed if you strayed from them or didn't genuflect in his presence: I backed away immediately, never to return to position A. Unfortunately my mates bore some brunt from my lack of adherence to the Commander. Yet, the CoWW all did well at the Confluence Hole despite the instruction, or perhaps as a result of the instruction, led by master fisherman Andy Holley with many salmon and the El Chunker slab to his credit. Rob was soooo gentle with the soon-dead. What a blast for one keen aspect of our adventures yielding immediately ~ we even caught some trout.

We checked in to the nasty Old Kentucky Home #10 - it was right @ the confluence (ok Jim, on the Taylor), but with no lighting or little else. The only worse digs were Andy's. The hole was still packed with the "Commander's Kids" as we poured our 1st nasty ales of the evening. It was Holley's & Yohanan's night to cook and Andy's Hungarian paprikash was outstanding. He toted two Instapots to show off his mad skills and affluence. So good. Jim su-cheffed and made great side dishes, including his Pinot Noir choice. No pics are available from the apres-dinner  battle-royale on Jim's AR bluetooth speaker and the "name that song" game which ensued during the NFL kickoff game with Brady's amazing comeback, and more importantly Andy's stash of Buffalo Trace. Whew.

We awoke in Almont to just freezing temps but the forecast included a 50° swing - which was realized. We chose to hit the Taylor C&R tailwater on Day 1 (Day 0 being the salmon) AM for a little frustration with tiny flies cast to giant fish in this epic spot. There are no pics from the French Toast with Bourbon Palisades and sausage I made that morning, but no one complained. Thanks you su-chefs. We did "ok" on the C&R with a number of hookups on nymphs - I landed some like those shown below. We moved to the lower Taylor but did jack-shit; I don't fully understand as flows were fine but variables from prior outings include 1) a year seeing more CO tourism than ever, 2) a very hot streak of days, and 3) our mutual suckedness at fishing.

Back at the Almont Resort it was Dave's & Rob's night to make dinner. It's Coffin, so it's Asian - grilled Sichuan chix thighs and roasted mountain of veggies & noodles in garlic, lime, ginger, & cilantro on the skottle. Finding tongs from these cabins was an issue. We did serve an nice Anejo Hereadura Tequilla several times. No one wanted and again we partied all night.

Early worms evade the birds, so I slept in. It was time to hit the Gunnison proper - always fun in the fall - though the flows had recently fallen to pretty thin. Andy filled us up with stellar "eggs anyway you want 'em" and ham sliced & pan-fried nice. We hit Neversink & Cooper's Ranch this day - the #22 BWO hatch was very early, like 9am and we arrived at the tail end... grrr. We did OK but the fish were a smidge smaller than hoped... not a deterrent in these spectacular environs. I have to say it was hot, thin and not epic ~ except to be racing upstream and through the brush with/from my mates ~ "nice to not spend time with you Dave," I might've heard. The Gunny is very cool - cross the inner channel, or fish it if you wish, but the big guys are out in the wider water typically. The CoWW caught many fish; the bulk of the catch was @ hole drops after riffles but it was tricky. I switched to midges in purple or black zebras after the hatch was over. I frustratingly tried the keen BWO spinner fall dries sipped by plenty of trout - always a problem on my casts. I also strangely did nothing on stoneflies. Here are representative 15"-18" trout from the Gunny - others were smaller this day. We moved downstream to Cooper's Ranch but the heat of the day slowed the catch.

 

We wrapped at High Alpine Brewing - always awesome, as it was tonight again. And we were joined by ultimate CoWW DD and recruit CoWW MDB as well at Yoho's kid Mitch. The latter rode Hartman Rock before joining the enclave. Yeah, the kid MDB is a master fisherman without compare really and keen tyer for sure, with mad knowledge of CO rivers, in part due to his wicked social nature and guide-boy hang. I warned all of his competitive attitude with me ~ his arrival didn't disappoint ~ "total throw-down" would be my observation but we've known each other since "Mr Dave." I loved seeing him and especially his dad. After killing a passel of pints and tasty pizza we retired to contemplate the next move - yep, another Gunny outing... It's better water this season than Lake Fk or East or even lower Taylor. We convened at Territory Coffee for the fix and burros; Jim grabbed his stash. We relaunched at Neversink - "a brand new day" but without Andy who headed back for stuff in COS; of course he caught good fish along the way. We crossed the inner channel NP - what I now respect is the tradition of "walking beer" ~  which is awesome.

Rob enjoyed the company of master fisherman Matt even suggesting "you should always net my fish" - yeah, they were close and netted many. Bro Brown caught a number of Browns and DD netted a number of fish. Everyone was catching fish this day on the Gunny, mostly on #22 mayfly nymphs but I did land the alpha in the hole and likely the big fish of the day, a slab of 19+" rainbow, on an ObiJuan worm. Good day again on the Gunny, despite the heat and lower flows.

We convened for dinner at the steakhouse in Gunny, which was good; we enjoyed a number of local Irwin brews there too.

Before heading back to COS some of us went again to fish Neversink and while we hooked up and caught some it was not as good as the prior two days. Jim & Mitch rode again at Hartman Rock. Another good CoWW outing closed. Thanks all for coming.

UPDATE 15Sep21 - Really a post-script... I toted the Rodfather Colorado all week in the Gunny basin and it performed admirably but is noticeably heavier than other 5wts from Sage I've used and those from CoWWs at the event. It's a strong canon and not too heavy, and fun as heck, but it is not a light one.

Plus notable for this update is that SuperFly Haine is 51 this day.