Where should I fish? As far as I can tell, we’ll be there in mid August. Any recommedations on rivers, guides, etc.? This is my first “invite” to their timeshare so I know nothing about the area.
Oh, poor, poor Johnny! I have no idea where to fish there, as I’ve never been … but … would offer to go in your place, so you wouldn’t have to. Would get back to you if there was any fishing there, and if you’d want to go at a different time…:p:rolleyes: Oh, the trouble I will go through for my friends!!
Lots of choices re type of water in that area. Do you prefer lakes, creeks or rivers, wading or drifting, solitude vs. crowds?
HCR - I actually prefer smaller, less populated creeks with great surroundings. If I am able to hook into a decent sized fish, so be it, but it is not a requirement.
JohnnyB -
My only suggestion is that you keep the “kicking and screaming” to a minimum.
John
The snow MIGHT be gone by then. Might, I say. And they will have some of the buildings rebuilt.
Try the lower Taylor, and/or the East. The Taylor is fun to fish up along the canyon, access is relatively easy, and it holds some nice fish. Don’t bother with it up above the reservoir, tho.
Lots of small mountain creeks around. Get a FS map and start wandering. Bring lots of $ if you are staying in CB.
DG
Betty If you Insist on time after time, doing these wonderful humanitarian acts of selfless kindness toward the less fortunate We will seriously have to look at nominating you for a Goodie two shoes Hero badge. It is a sad sad thing that fate has decreed that are no fish within a 1000 mile radius of one such as yourself.
I’m quite sure that your kind kind offer to help out poor poor Johnny will result in at least 50 Karma points being added to your already impressive score.
I remain in awe!
Gnu Bee
I’ve gone to Crested Butte every year for the past 11 years to dirt bike ride. We go the first week in August. This past year I took a 4-piece 4wt rod with me. I got waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the trails. I fished many beaver dams along small streams. The brook trout were more than willing to take flies. It was a ton of fun.
Check with the Dragon Fly Anglers in Crested Butte for the best local info.
But with that said you might try:
-Gunnison River
-Taylor River
-Spring Creek area
-The lake near Kebler Pass
-Taylor Reservoir has some H U G E lake trout
-The immediate tailwater out of Taylor Lake is supposed to have some large fish but it is also fished to adnauseum!
Here’s my suggestion to a nice, relatively unfished stretch of water:
Go to Spring Creek(take ‘Jack’s Cabin Cut Off’ road across to Spring Creek) and take the road that goes North out of the only intersection in Spring Creek.Along the lower part of the road there are some calm pools that hold a number of fish. Go until the road becomes a dirt road. All along this road are beaver ponds and the stream eventually narrows up a bunch. There are a ton of brookies in there…nothing real big mind you, but it’s a beautiful area! YOu can drive all the way across this road (about 20 miles) to Taylor Park Rd. . Along Taylor Park road there is a very nice stream to fish. That whole stretch of road would take a week (well, a whole Summer)to fish. Have fun!
Oh…if you do go to Spring Creek, watch the horseback riders…they think they personally own the road there.
DG - I just looked it up and it seems the snowpack is 165% to 170% of average in Southern Colorado. Do you think this will affect fishing/water clarity that late in the summer?
Betty - thanks for the offer, but I think I might have to take one for the team this time. I’m pretty excited about it. We go to CO every summer (Summit County area) but I’ve never been to the Crested Butte area.
<sigh> Oh well. You can’t say I didn’t offer!! 
Have a ball!!
I lived in Crested Butte for a ski season and spent a lot of time there whilie living in western Colorado. This was a long time ago and things may have changed but I had reasonably good fishing accessing the East River at the Roaring Judy fish hatchery and also fishing the Taylor. Some of the best trout fishing I had was when the kokanee were spawning and the big trout would line up behind them to eat their eggs. You won’t be there then. The access is limited in that whole region and it’s a shame that Colorado has such rediculous laws saying that people can own the streambeds, but there is access at that hatchery and some other places. I can’t believe that I’m going to say this but it might be worth it to contact one of the people who charge you money to access their “private” water, I think you’ll find water with less pressure if you do that and it would only represent a small fraction of what the total vacation would cost.
Johnny, they were tunneling between buildings in CB this winter. It DUMPED up there. Had several roofs collapse (as happened on this side of the hill as well). I haven’t been over but I saw several pics. I was, in fact, being somewhat facetious, as the snow should be long gone by August except up in the north-facing basins way up high. I suspect the stream levels will be higher this summer than last, though, due to snow melting into the ground and percolating through. Snow makes fish!!
Runoff this year could be pretty interesting. Snowpack in the Gunnison basin right now is 142% http://snowpack.water-data.com/uppercolorado/index.php?allrb=5
I expect runoff will be over by late June or early July, but it could be high enough to rearrange some things.
Wulff, by the lake near Kebler Pass, do you mean Irwin? West out of CB up Kebler six or eight miles, turn right amile or so before the pass, couple more miles…? I fish that a couple times per year since I moved here, and while it has fish in it, it isn’t anything to get too excited about. The DOW stocks it with bows, but I don’t think a lot of overwintering happens. I’ve never caught anything more than about 15" out of it. It is fun to fish, tho, and easy to tube, and easy to access as long as the road is in good shape.
Oh, and, be careful when you ride. We expect rider numbers to be WAY up this year, as a lot of the front range forests have closed many routes and dispersed camping areas. Gunnison has a new LEO, so it will be a bit more scrutinized up that way, too. Also, the Forest is working on a travel managment plan that could impact the roads and trails you ride (not this summer but next). PM me and I can send you the link to the info on the FS website. I didn’t work on the Gunnison side travel plan so I do not know any details on individual routes.
DG
I ride with a group that is a branch of the Colorado 500 so we are well-informed on the trail situations.
I may not make it out this year to ride however. First time in 11 years.
I came in those 11 years because I foresaw the possiblility of land closure…something I just cannot stand. I feel it is a biggoted situation.
Yeah, I agree Irwin is nothing great but it is easy to get to ‘in a pinch’.
Hey,My in laws are visiting around that time frame how bout I join
you guys and let have my house alone…
Just thinking about there well being of course 