The Gunnison River in Colorado is one of the most amazing rivers one can fish in the United States. It is located in western Colorado and runs from the City of Gunnison to the Colorado River in Grand Junction. It runs through a wide variety of different terrain including the Black Canyon National park and Gunnison Gorge with most sections only accessible by raft. Unfortunately, I did not have access to a raft.
The Why
The first time I decided to fish the Gunnison was back in 2020. I had been living in Colorado for two years now fishing here and there but nothing quite as extreme as this. I was living in Boulder at the time with a couple of friends, Evan Swett and Phil Thornton. This was the summer of COVID and there was nothing for us to do but be outside. So, we decided to plan a trip. I believe it all started with a simple search of “Best place to fly fish in Colorado” and up came the Gunnison River. Coincidentally enough, it was early June right before the notorious Salmon Fly hatch was about to begin.
The Fly
Salmon Flies are large bright orange stone flies that hatch once every year on the Gunnison in early June. This big bugs are like candy to wild brown trout and is arguable one of the best dry fly hatches to fish in the nation.
The Prep
After doing the minimum amount of research we geared up and began to prepare for our adventure. With only two backpacking backpacks available Evan had to resort in using an old ski boot bag for our 3 day endeavor. We each packed a sleeping bag, hammock, fishing gear, one stove with an old pan, water filter, and one small first aid kit. Notice how I did not say food, I mean why would we need food? We had our fly rods and were expert anglers, we could obviously just catch our food and save the bag space. Real smart idea.
We left Boulder at about 4:00am Friday morning. Evan was driving so Phil and I made sure to prep our bodies real well the night before with beer and tequila. We arrived to Gunnison at about 9:00am. Made a quick stop in Eds Fly Shop to get some last minute supplies and then headed to the Ute trail head. Full of excitement and courage we readied our packs and took off down the trail. Our original game plan was to hike all the way up to black canyon and back in three days time with no map or trail knowledge. Once again, an excellent plan.
The Adventure Begins…
We took off down the 4.5 mile long trail and slowly dropped down the gorge until we finally caught sight of the river. We began to pick up the pace as our excitement grew. Soon, we made it. Right there on first access point to the river bank we rigged up our rods and began to fish. About an hour goes by and no luck yet. We decide to pack up, continue up river, and set up our first campsite. We fished until dark that evening resulting in one 6 inch brown caught by Evan. Since he caught it he, he ate it. Phil and I went to bed hungry but determined to turn things around the following day.