End of May Colorado Trip

[bentty]

I'm headed somewhere in Colorado for a week of camping and fishing, preferably with some solitude. I'll leave the Denver area on May 20.
I'd love to hear your suggestions on where we should go. Gunny area? Thoughts on the Ark right now? Yampa and that part of the state?
What says ye fishing gurus?

 

[zjory]

I'm headed somewhere in Colorado for a week of camping and fishing, preferably with some solitude. I'll leave the Denver area on May 20.
I'd love to hear your suggestions on where we should go. Gunny area? Thoughts on the Ark right now? Yampa and that part of the state?
What says ye fishing gurus?

Peak runoff. Throw streamers and have fun catching big fish.

 

[mcnerney]

I agree, with all the warm weather we have been enjoying, the rivers are coming up fast and chocolate colored. Either throw streamers or tight line nymphing right up against the banks and any soft water you can find.

 

[flav]

May can be great on some stillwater fisheries. I know spinney has a big midge hatch in May and late in the month you might find some callibaetis hatching. Nothing wrong with 20+ inch stillwater rainbows taking you into your backing a few times a day.

 

[Matt4.0]

I was in Steamboat 2 weeks ago and was surprised to find the Yampa already in full runoff, at least through town.

 

[Joey Bagels]

I don’t usually think “solitude” when I think Colorado. Tailwaters and stillwaters are your best bet that time of year. And all the local fishing bro’s and their cadres of GoPro-toting pals will probably be alongside you. I keed. I keed. But not really.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bentty]

Thanks all! Let me know if there are any other great ideas floating around out there. I'll post up with a trip report when I get back. And I will be watching out for the "GoPro-toting pals"!

 

[gunnison_country]

I'd certainly come to the Gunnison area. Although runoff might be a problem on some rivers, with the low snowpack this year both the Taylor River and the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River will likely be fishing very well. Plenty of small streams in the area (Cochetopa, Los Pinos, and Spring Creek to name a few) that will be good-to-go at the end of May. Colorado's best rainbow trout fishery, the East Portal on the Gunnison River, will be available and fishing great this time of year as well. You simply cannot go wrong in the Gunnison Basin if you are a fly fisher.

 

[corn fed fins]

Low water year from about mid CO to the N.M. border so run-off will be quick and varied. Any high mountain lake that requires more than 1/4 mile walk will leave 90% of the population behind, same with any trail to the water. Unfortunately, many of the lesser waters are getting commercialized with where to go, where to fish, what to use books so "solitude" becomes a relative term. There's a lot of water but there's a lot of people to go with it. Just draw the map, shoot the sign, and you will find a slice of pie.

 

[bentty]

Quick update:
We left Denver and stopped in Silverthorne for groceries on our way to the Gunny. We accidentally fished the Troutlets on the Blue while we were in town and caught several very nice fish. We camped that night at a rest stop on I-70, and woke up to catch one nice brown where Grizzly Creek enters the Colorado. We hit the Crystal at a few places on our way south but were skunked. We blamed run-off. We drove to Cottonwood Campground on the Gunnison and caught several fish that evening in the muddy water. The next day was more of the same, and I doubled up with two nice fish at the same time on my double streamer rig. Very cool. The next two days we fished upstream of the North Fork confluence and caught quite a few fish and three very large (for us) rainbows. The largest went 25" and was THICK. I saw my backing for the first time ever on a brown. We headed out of there on Friday morning to avoid crowds. We fished the Lake Fork but fought run-off and missed a few fish, then went to the Taylor. After catching a couple fish there we went south a little to fish the Gunny again to no avail. We woke up early and fished the Ark in a couple spots with mild success, then checked out the Clinton Gulch reservoir. Ice prevented any action there, so we headed back to the Troutlets to finish an epic trip. We caught several more very nice fish and ended the day with four rainbows in rapid succession.
We took very few pictures because we were too busy fishing, and we were extremely focused on fish survival. The rainbows in particular essentially never left the water.

 

[flav]

Sounds like good trip. Whatever river is in the photos looks like it had great water clarity, and some nice fish.

 

[gunnison_country]

Congrats on a great trip. Fishing the Gorge above the North Fork is one of my very favorites. I like to hit it during the last 3-4 days in May when you can find some Salmonflies and again in October, when most everyone is doing something else. Glad the Gunny didn't disappoint. Doug

 

[stenacron]

Looks like a fun trip! Gunnison County is the best... love the Almont area for the trifecta - fishing + scenery + wildlife.

Also, thanks for coming back with a report and pics. So many threads start out like yours, and folks chime in with advice, recommendations, etc. but many fade away from the OP with no update on how the trip turned out. So thank you for that.

 

[bentty]

Also, thanks for coming back with a report and pics.

Absolutely! I would have liked to have included more pictures, but my camera discipline is horrible. I'm way more focused on catching the next fish.
Ty