Gunnison Gorge Report

[flyfysher]

I arrived at the Gunnison Gorge below the major part of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on 06/23 for a float trip beginning the following day. We took out on 06/26.

A lot of fish in the 15 to 16+ inch range. I think the largest one went 22-24 inches and it was a fat rainbow with a torpedo body. That was unusual because the Gunny had been hit hard by whirling disease so the river has a reputation as a brown trout fishery which is borne out by experience.

The water was off color, Gunnison (Gunny) Green, according to a guide who said it had been chocolate the week before. It appeared the water level dropped significantly while we floated it and indeed, we learned the dam operators had dropped it down to just below 2000 if my memory serves. I think it had been around 4000 less than a couple of weeks before.

The salmonflies were out and about. Quite large and a very good hatch. There were lots of them. When we took out, the local store owner said he thought the main hatch hadn't occurred yet but that this was a pre-hatch. Hard to believe. He thought it would come off with the next moon phase (I can't recall if it was the quarter moon or whatever) and that the fishing was less than stellar. My buddies did quite well. Anyway, we wondered what the fishing would have been like if the bite had really been on.

There was good stonefly adult dry fly fishing on the last day while floating if you cast along the rock walls right where it met the water. I mean this literally.

Overall though, the trout really weren't keying on the adults even though they were everywhere. Instead, the most successful rig was an adult trailed by a stonefly dropper (size 6 Orvis Sexy Stone in a brownish color - which I ran out of - was a good pattern) about 2-3 feet down and cast within 6 inches of the shore. Early and late were the best times for this. Mid-day was not very good.

No real action on the streamers though I didn't really stick with it. I had a fish take a gold body Muddler Minnow that got off. I think that was an anomaly though.

One guy caught a fish on a caddis emerger but there were no significant numbers of caddis around. In fact, I saw very few caddis. I considered this particular catch to be a fluke.

Saw some trout rising the second evening. They were taking emergers. I saw one PMD adult earlier so I'm surmising the trout were taking PMD emergers and not midges though I didn't go after them. It was late in the day and I'd have had to head back to camp and then break out my PMD's from my dry bag to tie them on.

We took out at the confluence of the North Fork of the Gunny and the mainstem. Even though the mainstem was off-color it looked very clear compared to the North Fork which was definitely chocolate.

On the mainstem the visibility was about 1 and 1/2 to 2 feet max. The river is like a trough so wading was not a good idea. Drop offs and very muddy trails along the banks with holes that you sometimes couldn't see. Lots - this is a gross understatement - of poison ivy at the put in on the Chukar Trail. It made going up and down the shoreline very difficult there. Didn't really see poison ivy downstream though.

Weather was very hot and extremely dry. You definitely need a lot of water. Either bring a water pig or a purifier.

There's also a lot of sand. You'll get very gritty and fast especially when you apply sunscreen. 50 SPF sunscreen is recommended.

Forget waders. I never wore them. I didn't bring my wading socks and I'd say they're a necessity.

We used 6 weight rods. Bring 3X tippet. I think 4X is too light and so did one of my buddies who is a guide. I also used 2X. You'll appreciate the larger tippet when you get hung up as you won't break off.

Even though we hired horses/mules to carry down our gear we still had to carry a lot of stuff. For example, they couldn't take parts of our raft down because some of the tubing was too long and would hang up when the pack train had to go down switchbacks. It's an understatement to say it was a real bear.

There is no camping down at the put in so if you go down the Chukar trail to fish the first night then you'll have to climb back up. Ugh. That totally wiped me out and then I had to carry down gear the following day. Anyway, leave your fishing gear at the bottom instead of hiking it back up.

You'll also need to pack a groover since there are no facilities. I never put up the tent. Initially there were no mosquitoes but some of the boggier stretches led to our being bitten. Bring a good repellent (Ultrathon).

If you want access on some of the lower stretches then you'll have to climb a 100 feet or more above the river since shore access is blocked. If I had it to do over again then I would'nt because it was very dangerous with loose rock and some places that required hand holds on larger rocks. However, I'm a klutz with no sense of balance and older. The young guys did it easily but it scared me. Once I was in though it was really too late to back out.

Finally, there are quite a few rapids including larger class III. At one point, the back end of our raft started to go down and fill with water when we hit a hole. I was on the back end and fortunately, I had the good sense to stand up so the back end didn't take me under. Wearing a PFD is a must.