Day 1

We made it out to the Taylor around noon and only found a couple of cars in the lot. Justin and Josh, a couple of Colorado newbies, were soon impressed with the size of the fish when we looked out over the bridge. There was a pod of rainbows above the bridge and a couple of nice fish spread out below the bridge. The fish were all in the 5-7 pound range and we were pretty excited to get the gear on and start fishing. I settled in on the pod above the bridge, while Justin and Josh were up a little further in the “Hog Trough”. Justin hooked into a nice brown right away, a sweet looking male brown in the 23-24 inch range. It was brightly colored and Justin compared it to almost looking like an artic char. He let the fish go and soon after, was again hooked up with another brown in the 20 inch range. I continued working the pod of fish, having trouble getting my flies down deep enough without putting on too much split shot. The flows were up fairly high, so it was tough getting the flies to drift at the right depth. I decided to move upstream and right away spotted a monster fish. It was a huge male rainbow in the 30-32 inch range. This was the type of fish we were after. He was holding tight to the bottom in about 6-7 ft. and was occasionally feeding. I spent the next hour trying to coax the fish into biting, only to miss it a couple of times and finally scare it off when I hit it with my split shot. Things slowed down for the rest of the afternoon and I was working hard to try to get the skunk off. I headed down to the lower catch and release section and saw a couple of nice bows holding behind a large boulder out in the middle of the river. It would require a tough cast to get out to them, and after 10-15 minutes of trying to get the perfect drift, the fish took off. I decided to head back upstream and ended up back in the large pool below the dam. The fish were stacked up in the tail-end of the pool and I could tell some of the fish were pretty good sized. First cast over the fish my indicator went under and I was hooked up. The fish took off across the pool and I could soon tell I was hooked up with one of the larger fish. After a couple of runs, I got the net under the fish, a solid 22 inch male rainbow. I took a quick picture of the fish in the net and slide him back out into the pool. I missed 2 more fish on my next two casts before landing a nice brown in the 16 inch range. Justin and Josh joined me in the pool and we each caught a couple more nice browns before calling it a night. A storm was moving in and the wind was really picking up.

Day 2

We woke up the second day in Almont to find it lightly snowing. As we continued up the mountain the snow kept getting worse. By the time we arrived at the river, it was full out snowing and with the winds blowing at 30-40 miles per hour, it was like fishing in a blizzard. The good news was the snow and clouds kept the fish active and in shallower water. It wasn't a couple of casts into the morning, when I had hooked and landed my first fish for the day, a chunky 21 inch rainbow. I headed back upriver and again hooked a beautiful fish, this time a brightly colored male in the 23 inch range.

The fish were slamming mysis and black beauties, and I was hooking up every 10-15 minutes with sold fish. I broke off two real nice fish before landing another 19 inch rainbow. The snow finally died down a little and so did the fishing. I decided to give the spot a rest and head back down to the pod of fish above the bridge. The fish had schooled me the day before and I was determined to catch one of them before we left. I again had trouble getting my flies down to the fish and couldn't get them to take anything. As a last ditch effort I put on a white wooly bugger and a couple of slit shot. My first cast the fly disappeared in the current and suddenly my line shot accross the river. Unbelievable, one of the fish had grabbed the bugger. I quickly tighted up on the fish and tried to get it turned back upriver, away from the rocks and rebar under the bridge. The fish finally tired out and I was able to get him in the net. It was another brightly colored male rainbow in the 25 inch range.

There was another larger rainbow holding out in the middle of the river and with nobody but us around, I decided to take a couple of casts at it from up on the bridge. Again, surprisingly the fish took the white wooly bugger and took off under the bridge. I gave it some slack so it would think it wasn't hooked to give me enough time to scramble down the hill and fight it down near the river. The slack worked, as the fish stopped running and allowed me to get down by the river to fight the fish. I chased it down it downstream under the bridge and all the way down to the big pool. I managed to get it back upriver and just as we were about to net it, the hooks popped out. It would have been a better rainbow in the 26-27 inch range.

The snow had started to pick up again, so I headed back up to the spot where the rainbows had been stacking up earlier in the day. I spotted a fish that just looked like a dark shadow in the water. I could tell it was a really good fish, but it wasn't until I hooked it that I realized how big. The fish exploded up out of the water and took off across the river. I was pretty sure it was the huge male I had spotted the day before, as the fish was a beast. I fought the fish in the shallow water and got it tired out before it took off downstream. I followed it down into the "Hog Trough" and had it just laying on top of the water. I was by myself, so I was trying to get the net under it, but was having trouble getting close enough to the fish. I just about had the fish in the net when...the hook popped out! I stood there stunned. It would have have been pretty close to my largest rainbow ever, definitely a fish over 30 inches in the 12-14 pound range.

I returned up near the same section of river and spotted another large rainbow that had previously spooked nearly every time I had cast near it. This time I got a good cast on it and it took the fly as it drifted past. The fish also took off downriver, but Justin had come up river and I got his attention to come net the fish. I got the fish under control and again took it down to the Hog Trough. The fish tired out and was laying on the surface. I held my breath as Justin got the net under it and I could see that he got it. It was another large male rainbow that taped out to 28 inches and we figured it was probably 9 or 10 pounds.

I headed back up to near the same spot and another large fish had slid into the same run. This fish was slightly larger and when I finally hooked it, it took off way upstream. I chased after it, nearly filling my waders with water. It headed around one rock on the left side of the river and then further upriver around another boulder out in the middle. Afraid of breaking it off on the rocks, I gave it some slack, hoping I could catch up and reel up the line, while tricking the fish into thinking it had gotten off. I got the line unwrapped from the first rock and waded upriver to the top rock, and found the fish was still on. It was trying to hide under the under-cut bottom of the rock and again took off again when it saw me. This time back downriver, dragging its nose on the bottom to try to rub the hook out. I got the fish back under control and it actually started rolling downriver until it righted itself near another boulder. It was swiming back in forth in the current in the front of the rock, but I wanted to swing it out to the shallower, calmer water near the side of the river. Justin had gone back upriver, so I knew it was my only option for netting the fish. I got the fish out from the rock and was swinging it over to the shallow water when again, the hook bent straight and the fish took off. It would have been another hawg, this one in the 30 inch range and pushing 10+ pounds.

I caught a couple other rainbows in the 20-22 inch range, but as it got dark, they all retreated back to the deeper pools. Justin and Josh mostly fish the larger pool and managed to catch a lot of nice browns and the occasional rainbow. We headed back down to Almont for dinner, but returned later around 11 PM to try the night fishing. The fish weren't lined up in the shallower water like earlier in the day and between the 3 of us, we only landed 3 fish in over 2 hours. I did spot one nice rainbow in the tail of the larger pool with my flashlight, but never got it to take the fly.

The flows for both days were up around 400 cfs., which was about four times more water then usual. The fish are really benefiting from the higher flows, as this was one of the best years in a long time for larger fish and they are starting to fatten up like footballs. The snow pack was still pretty high, with some drifts still in the 8-10 ft. range on the river. The best flies were definitely mysis, the smaller the better, and black beauties. We also caught fish on miracle nymphs, zebra midges, and eggs.