Freestone · Mixed · Colorado, US

Gunnison River — Upper (Almont to Blue Mesa)

Two fly anglers wading an open valley stretch of the Gunnison River lined with autumn-coloured trees and distant hills.

Above Blue Mesa the Gunnison is a broad, friendly snowmelt freestone, gathering the Taylor and the East at Almont and rolling down through town as honest brown-and-rainbow water.

Tomorrow · Slow going — pick your moments
Pheasant Tail
Forecast · Tomorrow
Slow going — pick your moments
Slow going — pick your moments and do not force it.
45% projected
Today's fly
Pheasant Tail
Pheasant Tail
Conditions on the water · Tomorrow
Live gauge
Level
Rising
0.26 m
Lifting fast
Water temp11.6°C
ClarityVery coloured
Weather16°C
WindN 3 km/h
Pressure1020 hPa
Rain · recent1.2 mm
Rain · ahead0.2 mm

The nearest gauge doesn't record temperatures, so we've estimated it — defer to the river keeper's advice.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Ideal
12°C est.ideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Water at 19.1°C — above the brown trout caution line (18°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Likely species
Mayflies
Caddisflies
Hatch timeline · tomorrowPeak at 12pm

12pm(now) — Mahogany Dun

Stage: On emergersApproach: Emerger or dryActivity: 71%
Peak emergence windowDegree-days at peak6 food groups active

Peak activity at 12pm — Mahogany Dun (Mahogany Dun, Peak emergence window)

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

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Evidence
Records-basedModerate confidence

Based on species-occurrence records, not local invertebrate surveys.

Through the year
0–3 scale · September highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Brown DunHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Western Green DrakeHatch
2
2
Flav (Small Western Green Drake)Hatch
2
3
2
Mahogany DunHatch
2
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
SD
Sex Dungeon
2-6 · Pattern
Proven pattern for this period
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Colorado licence
  • Gold Medal (Twin Bridges to Almont) — verify CPW rules
  • Handle headwater cutthroat gently.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here at 19.1°C. Nothing cooler within range.
Gallery · 2
  1. Two fly anglers wading an open valley stretch of the Gunnison River lined with autumn-coloured trees and distant hills.
    Fishing for Kokanee
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

Above Blue Mesa the Gunnison is a broad, friendly snowmelt freestone, gathering the Taylor and the East at Almont and rolling down through town as honest brown-and-rainbow water. CPW made the Twin Bridges-to-Almont stretch Gold Medal in 2023, which surprised nobody who'd fished it. It's a big-water summer river — salmonflies and stoneflies, then caddis and hoppers once the runoff clears — with the easy float-and-wade character the canyon water downstream most definitely lacks. The high tributaries hold native cutthroat; treat those headwaters gently.

  • Mixed
Conservation note

Cutthroat trout (Colorado River lineage) persist in upper Gunnison tributaries and headwaters — conservation-sensitive, carried in prose rather than the mainstem scoring array. Kokanee influence near Blue Mesa seasonally.

Water quality · US Clean Water Act
  • Aquatic life: Supporting
What this classification means

EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'Gunnison River, tributaries.' (COGUUG02_E), 2024 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Fully Supporting. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.

Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.

EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · COGUUG02_E

The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 80%
How the 33 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature23 × 28%6.4
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time45 × 13%5.9
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity46 × 12%5.5
Limiting factor: Water temperature (19.1°C) is outside Brown Trout's preferred range (10–16°C)= 58
Can you trust it?
Water temperaturelive gauge readinggauge
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitymodelled from regional profilemodelled
What would change the calculation
Cooler water — back toward the 10–16 °C ideal band — would lift the score and ease welfare.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 1 January → 31 December
Related guides
Euro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts