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Taylor River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The mysis tailwater where Colorado's heaviest trout sip tiny flies below the dam.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
159 cfs
Air / High
55 / 57 F
Wind
SW 12 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 09110000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Taylor River fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 159 cfs, on the rise. Today brings a mixed sky, wind SW around 12 mph, rising pressure near 1009 hPa and a high of 57. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:45 AM-11:45 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 51 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Colorado requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $57.63 for residents. What a Colorado licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with CPW before you keep anything. The season dates for Colorado, read off the agency, are on the Colorado seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from TAYLOR RIVER AT ALMONT, CO..

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 09110000.

110130149159 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 116 years of October 23

At 159 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 09110000 (TAYLOR RIVER AT ALMONT, CO.) is at the 45th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 116 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 166 cfs; the highest was 704 cfs and the lowest 47 cfs.

p10 100median 166p90 301

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 09110000; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp55 F
High / Low57 / 41 F
WindSW 12-22 mph
Pressure1008.7 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain56% cloud, 71%
Sunrise / Sunset07:24 / 18:17
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)47 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Taylor River this week

Today is the pick of the week on Taylor River, at 3 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:45 AM-11:45 AM and 10:14 PM-12:14 AM
Minor period
4:08 AM-5:08 AM
Sun
07:24 to 18:17
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 15 mph
Rain chance
71%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Taylor River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Taylor River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Taylor River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 52 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 58 F, wind to 12 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 60 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Colorado requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

C&R, artificials-only in the trophy section; standard bag below. Confirm with CPW.

Access

Roadside access along CR-742 (Taylor Canyon); the trophy section parks at the dam.

About this water

Tailwater of Taylor Park Reservoir, Gunnison County, CO; joins the East at Almont to form the Gunnison.

Fishing Taylor River: the full guide

Hog trough honesty

The Taylor below Taylor Park Reservoir hosts Colorado's most famous (and most watched) trophy trout: mysis-fed rainbows past ten pounds in a few hundred technical yards. Downstream toward Almont the river relaxes into normal, excellent freestone fishing: attractor dries all summer.

The Hog Trough truth

The C&R stretch below Taylor Park dam is small, public and absurd: mysis-fed rainbows past 10 pounds finning in plain view. They see everything: 6X-7X, size 20-24, drifts without drag or hope. Most visits produce humility; the occasional one produces the fish of a decade.

The rest of the river

Below the trophy water, the Taylor runs 20 canyon miles to Almont as a normal, delightful freestone: attractor dries, pocket water, campgrounds. The contrast is the charm: PhD water above, vacation water below.

Below the dam, above the odds

The Taylor's tailwater below Taylor Park Dam packs outsized trout into a few hundred yards: mysis shrimp wash from the reservoir and build 10-lb rainbows in plain sight. The technical game (6X, tiny mysis patterns, drift discipline) humbles most first visits. Downstream, the canyon relaxes into normal excellent: attractor dries over eager browns all the way to Almont, with pullouts the whole way.

Common questions

Why are Taylor River trout so huge?

Mysis shrimp flushed from the reservoir: the same protein subsidy as the Blue and Frying Pan. Stable flows and full protection do the rest.

Why are Taylor tailwater trout so big?

Mysis shrimp: the reservoir's population washes through the dam as high-calorie drift. A few hundred fish won the location lottery: they sit in the flush and grow to double digits.

Is fishing good at Taylor River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Blue Mesa Reservoir24 miTwin Lakes39 miArkansas River43 miRuedi Reservoir49 miRoaring Fork River50 miUncompahgre River54 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 09110000 β€” TAYLOR RIVER AT ALMONT, CO.
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.6636, -106.8473 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.