Taylor River Rainbows....gotta love those big boys!!
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For those that have never gotten up this way to fish the Taylor, you need to get here! This place is still not heavily fished as might think, well not as much as the Famed Frying Pan and Dream Streams so you should be fine.
The catch-and-release section of the Taylor begins just past the base of the dam. This .4-mile section is filled with super-sized trout, and as noted outdoors journalist Ed Marsh says, these fish were "born with master's degrees and quickly go on to earn their PhDs." He is not exaggerating.
The huge trout in the fly- and lure-only tailwater section are a by-product of mysis shrimp in Taylor Reservoir. The shrimp were introduced to increase the growth rate of reservoir trout; however, the light-sensitive mysis immediately fled to the depths of the reservoir to avoid the bright Colorado sunshine. The deep-dwelling shrimp multiplied rapidly, and vast numbers of them were being swept out of the dam's bottom-release tube into the river below. Passage through the tumultuous release tube left the high nutrient value shrimp dead or stunned, thus easy prey for trout. All of a sudden, fishermen were catching brilliantly colored, football-shaped rainbows that looked like they were using steroids.
The past three Colorado state record catch-and-release rainbows came from the Taylor tailwater. This past spring, an incredible 40 1/4-inch in fish with a 29-inch girth established a new standard, which has fallen twice since May 2002. Local experts believe there are even larger fish in the short, closed section immediately below the dam release. Successful fishermen here can reasonably expect to catch 4- to 8-pound brown and rainbow trout, and the possibility of attracting a 20-pound rainbow is within reason. Ten- to 15-pound fish are not abnormal.
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