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.

Fall CoWW Outing To The Gunny Basin 06Sep19-11Sep19

Our entire trip was excellent. From the chalk-ladden Arkansas to Kokanee salmon from the Guardrail Hole to trouncing around the East & seeing the Roaring Judy operations to high waters on the Gunnison to the gr8 day on the Lake Fork to fishing the Taylor, all with a bunch of good friends, good meals and good beers, it was a blast. Here's the blow by blow in reverse chronology.

Testing The Taylor C&R 11Sep19
After coffee and breakfast we packed up camp for ride over Cottonwood Pass and onto Colo Spgs. Along the way we stopped below the Taylor dam to fish the (in)famous Taylor Catch & Release section. It got a bit windy with a new cold front but we saw plenty of fish in this special tailwater. Jim had one on and I hooked four but only landed the 10", 12", and 5" rainbows... the pig I had on ran like a deamon downstream and ultimately shook broke my rig off somehow. Grrr. I tried a mole fly and a CDC PMD during the hatches but I got no takers - all my fish were subsurface on the RS2 or purple manhattan midge. No worthy fish pics - just these handsome fishermen.

GR8 Day On The Lake Fork 10Sep19
Yoho and I took the longer trek out the Seay easement section of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison. It was another gorgeous day with little chance of rain or even clouds. While this section is only .5 mile long, it has some fine water, nice fish and it fishes well as a result of the lower pressure due the remoteness, the climb down, and it's size. We saw no one else on the river and had a very successful day catching a number of browns and rainbows on fall baetis as well as top water chubbies. I caught a very nice 18" rainbow and Jim nabbed some stellar browns. We celebrated at High Alpine and grabbed the selfie overlooking the excellent Tributary coffee shop where we often started our days of fishing.

The East Was Vacant 09Sep19
Monday morning we headed to the East River to catch some more running Salmon... part of the river is closed due to the run but some salmon typically have run past the netting and get "holed up" a little beyond the hatchery. Not this time - we trudged miles through the river and willows and ultimately concluded that the hatchery ops this year got almost all the salmon for milking as we saw nothing. We did wander through the hatchery and saw the holding ponds full of salmon. We moved on back to the Guardrail Hole for more browns and salmon before the team separated to head home or to the C&R - or back to camp for Yoho and me. Jim & I fished the lower Taylor briefly on our way back - I caught a few but wading conditions were tough. At Rosy Lane we enjoyed a fine meal and a number of good IPA bombers Jim brought along.

Gunnison River @ Curecanti 08Sep19
We opted for the Neversink and Copper Ranch sections of the Gunnison River on Sunday. Rain was forecast for the afternoon so we packed heavy for the treks around these areas. Water is still running high, mainly from the Taylor, on the Gunnison and wading was a bit tough. We did not have an epic day but caught fish on the surface with chubbies and underneath on golden stones and smaller fall baetis. I caught my first splake in the Gunnison's inner channel! Another great outing in this excellent river basin. We enjoyed beers and brats in the rain before moving down to Copper Ranch. Fishing was a little better there and everyone made it out to the main river channel. Ultimately we dined at the Ole Miner sports bar where some NFL games were on TV and we had very good cheesesteaks.

Salmon Galore 07Sep19
After dropping the camper @ Rosy Lane CG I headed back to the Guardrail Hole of the Gunnison just south of Almont to join the CoWW team. We had a 6-man group and basically took over the hole for the day and had a blast catching a bunch of Kokanee salmon running upstream to the East River from Blue Mesa Rez. We were doing serious shoulder to shoulder combat fishing requiring synchronized roll casting. The man in position "A" typically did best, and that was Matt "The Guide" DeBalski most often - 'cause who'd tell him to move on, till the sun shifted late and Yoho started landing nice fish from the top of the hole. Red/orange anything worked but salmon eggs off heavily weighted line worked best most of the day. What a blast these ill-fated strong fighters are - we caught a bunch like these yet only one lady among them for me. Nick and I managed some browns too. I swam, twice. Greg & Daryle cooked under my canopy at lunch and enjoyed respite from the sun. We ultimately went for more pizza at High Alpine Brewery.

Chalky Arky 06Sep19
Jim and I set out for Greg's Poncha Palace Friday morning but fished Rincon and Chaffe Co line of the Arkansas on the way out SR 50. The river was mostly muddy from rain the night prior and this challenge was exacerbated by a remote storm up Chalk Ck which turned the river chalky white. I managed a brown before we left to dine at Amica's. We all gathered at Greg's for corn bag tourney and brews that night. He also presented me with a keen Colorado cutthroat sticker which now adorns the camper.