Yoho, Greg, and I laid plans to head to the Gunny River Basin for some fall fishing and I was fortunate to score some new recruits to join us so my friend BobR and his buddy TimP signed on and secured spots at the fine Rosy Lane CG in Taylor Canyon.
Before that all began though we shopped and prepped for the outing. I did some ghetto repairs to my gear... drilling out the "locked and unopenable" as well as the "floppy handle" ARB drawer handles, which fixed them both and adding Tenacious Tape to my fishing vest which tore on the back, which didn't work ultimately, and I added a zip tie from Greg to keep it wearable.
I pulled the BC20X over Cottonwood Pass to arrive at the CG in just over 3 hours after grabbing my mates and their gear around COS ~ nice. Our main site was very nice and right on the Taylor. After quickly setting camp we were stoked and rigged up to find some fish before dinner. Unfortunately it soon began to rain and we got soaked, even with raincoats, as I suggested we not don waders for this quick outing (dumbass). We hung out in the Airstream and learned to play 5-handed hearts. The rain subsided but we stayed inside where the beer wouldn't get diluted, played some more cards, and dined on Dave's Hatch fajita concoction.
After a nice breakfast of bacon & eggs from Tim, our 1st full day fishing was on the East where we sought to find some migrating Kokonee salmon coming to spawn at their birthplace in the Roaring Judy hatchery. We chose to park at the RJ and when dealing weapons I discovered I'd left the rod vault keys at camp; Greg bailed me out and I wielded the a nice custom grey & blue 5wt ~ great feel. We walked to the feeder stream (2) or downstream below the property (3). Hmmm... the battle lines have changed here and there is actually zero fishable East River below the hatchery during the salmon run... grrr. Jim, Bob, & I hiked hard through the property and right into a no trespassing sign. There were two other fishermen we saw who fished a little anyway in the tiny section between RJ and private ~ and so did we. Greg & Tim on the feeder didn't find salmon and neither did we. After a march quite a way to find a pod, I came back and advised we switch to trout rigs; we did and caught some decent browns. There was a predominance of the Scottish strain in the browns on the East. Greg's partridge hackle gold ribbed hare's ear easily took the most fish. I got a number of ok browns and small 'bows, like these...
We ended that pursuit a little early but still paid the 4 mile hike in/out price (with parking blocked off at the end of the ponds). It was still salmon day after "lunch" so we stopped at the confluence hole on the way back, to get our lesson, and then the guardrail hole for our attack. Dang it, rain again, and the Taylor is flowing +100cfs at least from comfort levels so getting to the guardrail hole was a sketchy move. We all lived and did the conga line casting for about 75min but ultimately we bailed. It was looking positive early when Greg scored a salmon on the worm; it was the only one and dang the weather played hell with the image.
We were close to Almont so stopped to patronize the bar at 3 Rivers before heading to camp... thanks Yoho! BobR made killer bolognese and even brought gluten-free pasta for TimP as well as homemade rosemary bread! We kept tossing down brews and I again chatted up our neighbor from PA, Dick Wade & his wife Anna... they were great. We discovered he plays Americana and performs even at Grey Fox, a great eastern festival. Dick and Anna joined after lunch and some tastes of Robert's fine Cigar Scotch offering ~ he then played & sang a number a keen songs for us around the campfire. Obviously the lighting is not good so Wade's true look is mostly for the imagination. They were fun and trout fishing afficianados too.
We slept well and arose to plan a new fishing adventure with a diet of Greg's tasty burros. He also field-tied us a bunch of yesterdays best fly - beadhead partridge hackle stones... awesome. Ultimately logistics suggested we hit the Gunnison River and pick up Yoho's Territory Coffee order on our way through Gunny. Well, it wasn't yet roasted; we arrived to find strong flows here (naturally) as well, but assembled the troops and headed out ~ some with "walking beers" as a toast to our missing (and working) master fisherman Matt.
The going was again surprisingly tough; our normal chubby, BH nymph, and baetis was not cutting it. I was catching some small fish on the trailing mayfly so switched to a triple baetis rig and did a bit better. I recommended the same to the boys but it didn't help enough... fishing, and hiking/wading, was challenging. I was flinging the fine 4wt Rodfather Bombadeer, but did not know it would be for the last time. Saw an eager beaver or more likely a river otter, and many drift boats. The triple baetis rig worked ok on small browns and small rainbows like these.
The issue for Tim & I once the heat, lack of food, and modest catch finally had us head back is that I was guided by the wrong cliff-band as a landmark and we overshot the trailhead, and had to bushwhack back from Cooper Ranch to Neversink. Tough going for sure. On top of that I tripped and snapped the Bombadeer on the way back and then lost my sunglasses whacking through the willows ~ a bad day for equipment for sure. We made it for the late lunch but were exhausted. I drove back to Rosy Lane and we said TTFN to Greg @ 4:30pm, who headed home. Back at camp, I ultimately got off my ass again, after Jim's offer of Gatorade, to make a good dinner of roasted corn and Dave's sloppy joes on buttery camp TOAST. We learned a new card game this night ~ Setback. I slept without cramping so that was a favor.
Undaunted with the prior day's issues we enjoyed doctored hash and eggs and packed up camp for our trip back up the canyon and a stop at the Taylor C&R about noon.
While I did have a nice fish on the line, she broke of on a rock downstream, and there was precious little catching by any of the other jokers on the C&R mid-day. We had lunch and chose to head on up to the upper Taylor, above the reservoir, before heading home. The river gorge area was a strange open range cow run as well as a headwater stream - odd choices BLM. We went with lighter gear and were back to chubbies and droppers. I caught several rainbows before running out of stream at a barely marked No Trespass sign high on the bank. Seeing the backside of the Collegiates from here was very cool.
Despite a general dearth of catching, and the absence of salmon, the outing to the Gunny Basin was excellent. New friends, old friends, killer views, mostly great weather, good nosh. Get outside, it's the best; do five rivers in four days.
