Almont, Colorado. Taylor River. January 29, 2013.
Had I listened to the weather report, I would have missed an absolutely incredible day on the Taylor River. The sky was that deep, deep blue that you only see in Colorado on a cold winter day and the snowfall from the previous day accentuated the hues. The morning stop at the Gunnison Fly Shop set us up with flies for the day and then my friends, Pat and Carol, drove us up to Almont where we hung a right at the confluence of the Taylor and the East River, which forms the Gunnison River (where I will be fishing in the summer.)
The access to the Taylor River was a challenge because the plow had left the sides of the road with about 4 feet of snow that immediately swallowed us up. We eventually managed to get down to the bank of the river where we fished in very shallow water. The fish were very skittish and although we could spot some from up above, they were gone by the time we inched ourselves to a spot where we could cast our flies.
I persevered and ended up in a spot where I was able to hook a couple fish but lost them within about 5 seconds. Yes, my imagination goes to one of those huge fish that is just not one that an amateur like me is going to catch at this point in my fishing career. That may have been the case, or perhaps one of the knots I tied was just not strong enough… or the tension on my reel was wrong, or I didn’t have my rod tip up high enough.. and so it goes – there’s a lot to learn.
But…I’m going back to that hole tomorrow.
