The East Portal stretch of the Gunnison River is located within the Black Canyon National Park outside of Montrose, CO. This stretch of river is a Gold Medal Waters and is home to over 8,000 trout per mile.
April 15, 2025
East Portal has officially OPENED for the 2025 season! Flows are sitting at 450 CFS and visibility is great. Fishing has been HOT since opening day. Fish are keying in on small mayfly and caddis nymphs in sizes #18 & #20. Leading your rig with an attractor fly such as a scud, leech, egg, or perdigon has been finding fish as well. Fishing a multi fly nymph rig with fluorocarbon tippet in sizes 5x and 5.5x will help naturally present your flies and get them in the zone. Rely on smaller indicators or yarn indicators to pick up on the soft eats. Use a combination of split shots to ensure your bugs are getting down and in front of the fish. Focus your efforts on the riffles and moving water, as these fish are feeding actively.
As we get further into spring, the rainbows will begin to get on redds and begin to spawn. Watch where you are wading and don't tread on any redds. Leave spawning fish alone to there business, so we can enjoy great fish for years to come!
Gunnison River
The genesis of the famed Gunnison River is in Almont where the East and Taylor Rivers merge. Lazily snaking through cottonwood-lined ranchland for 20 miles, the upper "Gunny" is dammed to form Blue Mesa Reservoir, the Centennial State's largest body of water. After being dammed two more times forming Morrow Point and Crystal Reservoirs, the lower Gunnison River escapes Crystal Dam and carves through one of the most breathtaking and wild chasms on earth, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and its more mellow downstream neighbor the Gunnison Gorge, before slogging toward a rendezvous with the Colorado River in Grand Junction.
The Gunny is a big fish river in the truest sense of the words, as the entire upper Gunnison and the lower Gunnison downstream to the Smith Fork meets Colorado Parks & Wildlife’s criteria for Gold Medal status. Wild brown trout and a mix of wild and stocked rainbow trout, along with a few cutbows (mainly in the upper river), inhabit the Gunnison River. While there are ample opportunities for a walk and wading angler throughout the entire length of the Gunnison, both the upper Gunnison and the Gunnison Gorge are tremendous float-fishing destinations with the Gunny Gorge easily rating as Colorado’s marquee fly float trip. Ample public access, robust aquatic insect hatches, excellent numbers of trout, and big fish potential all make the Gunnison one of the Centennial State’s best fisheries and a must-visit destination for your fly fishing trip to western Colorado.
