Day 1

Its official, the Taylor River is my new favorite. No other river in the US consistently produces big rainbows like this river. The river was low when we arrived late afternoon and our first glance over the bridge did not reveal any fish. Suddenly a ten pound fish shot upriver from under the bridge and I knew it would be a good trip. We rigged up the rods and headed down to the river to take a shot at the fish. He spooked after one cast and I knew he would be a tough one to catch. The "Hawg Trough" was covered with anglers, so I decided to go to some scouting up in the flats for the next day. We only had a couple of hours before dark and I wanted to have a good plan for morning. I spooked a couple of nice fish as I walked upriver and took note of their location. Most of the fish were located in the lower half if the flats, with no fish up at the cable. I spent some time casting to the fish on the lower half, but it was tough going. It was starting to get dark when I spotted a pretty nice fish moving up along the far bank from where I was. I got a good drift on my first cast and the fish took the dropper fly. It bolted off across river and then up around a rock. I gave it some slack line, hoping it would hold up and not break me off on the rock. When I tightened up on it again, the fish was still on. I tired out the fish to the point where it was tumbling in front of a rock. Just when we were about to net it, the fish came unglued. It was too tired to swim off, so we were still able to net it from under the rock. It was a fat male, close to 27 inches. We continued working downriver and settled in on two fish sitting behind a rock. It was getting dark and you could just barely see the fish holding in the current. Rob finally tightened up on the larger of the two and it took off downriver. After a short fight, I was able to net the fish. It was another huge male, also around 27 inches.

Day 2

We got to the river early the next day and had our pick of spots. Tim set-up on the lower end of the flat water and I found a spot just above the Hawg Trough. There were two fish holding in pretty quick water and I was soon tied into the smaller of the two. It took me downriver and we were able to get it in the net about half way down. It was a nice male in the 22-23 inch range. When I got back up to the spot, the other fish had spooked out of the area. Trying to decide where to go next, I spotted a monster fish holding just at the top of the pool. It was a tricky spot and took me a couple of casts before I finally got a good drift on her. As soon as she was hooked, she bolted downriver and I went sprinting down the road after her.

I thought I had the upper hand when she took off over to the other side of the river. I was just about to hop in and run over to the other side when my line went limp. She had got me on the rocks. I had gotten a good look at her and she would have definitely been close to 30 inches. The fish started disappearing from the flat water, so I decided to head down to the Avalanche Pool. Tim spotted a pod of really nice fish and we spent some time drifting flies over them. I finally hooked with one of the smaller ones, a nice 23-24 inch hen.

There was one HUGE fish in the pool, but he would only stay put for a cast or two before taking off. The pool started getting a little crowded, so we decided to do a little searching downriver. We were surprised to find quite a few nice fish around and nobody but us down there fishing to them. I hooked and landed a nice spawned out female in the 20-21 inch range near the bottom of the C&R Section. We took a quick picture and off she went. I was working over to the far bank when I spotted two really nice fish holding in the tail-end of a pool. One was in the 27-28 inch range and the other was around 30 inches. I soon hooked up with the smaller fish and he took off downstream, down the riffle, and down into the private water. I was able to keep the fish on and was holding him in the current. Not wanting to get into any trouble to trespassing, I decided to break the fish off.

A little bummed, I was happy to find the larger fish still holding in the same spot. A couple minutes later, I got a good drift on it and was hooked up. The fish again took off downstream and I tried to let out enough line that she wouldn't keep going down to the private water. I had some success keeping her upriver, when she decided that she had had enough and also took off down to the private water. I wasn't about to loose another big fish, so I was able to maneuver my rod under the bridge and continue fighting her downriver. I was trying to make the fight quick so we could get out of there. Right when we were about to net her, I put a little too much pressure on her and the tippet broke. I had lost my second 30 inch fish for the day...

We continued working our way back upriver and Tim hooked into a nice female in the 23-24 inch range. She took off downriver and ended up breaking off in some faster water. We got back up to the Avalanche Pool and found it open. I headed over to the other side and started working the pod of rainbows again. The monster fish was holding just ahead of the pod in fairly deep water. I finally got the perfect drift on it and was just hoping he'd take it. I watched him "flash" as my flies drifted to it and set the hook. I was shocked when the line tightened up that I had him hooked. This was one of the better fish I'd ever hooked on the Taylor and I didn't want to loose it. He took two long runs before heading over to the opposite side of the river. He was dragging his nose along the bottom to try to pop my fly out. I decided to wade over to the other side of the river and hope that I could coax him into the shallow water. When I got over to the other side, I angled my rod towards shore and surprisingly he came with it. He came right up into about a foot of water. Tim went for it with the net and missed, but the fish stayed glued. All the commotion had kicked up a lot of dirt and I think he couldn't tell where he was. Tim was able to get him in the net and I let out a huge sigh of relief. After high fives, I was amazed at the size of this fish. He was my largest trout to date, a 32 inch male with a 22-23 inch girth. We estimated him at 17-18 pounds. After a couple of photos, we slid him back out into the pool. After loosing two other 30 inch fish, it was pretty rewarding to finally get one of those beasts in.

We fished for another hour or two before deciding to call it a day. The flows for both days were at 100 cfs, up from 80 cfs the day earlier. The river was fairly mossy and there weren't many mysis in the river. The larger fish were pretty spread out throughout the upper 1/4 mile, with the largest concentration in the Avalanche Pool. The best flies were red midges and black beauties.