Sunday Fishing with Dad

Dad and I spent the day fishing the East Portal of the Black Canyon National Park. I've been fishing here with my father all of my life. It's probably the most beautiful place I know of. Dad has been gone for a year and four months, so it was nice to hit the water with my fishing partner.

Great stretch of water for trout

The fishing here used to be great. Over the last twelve years, because of the over-fishing, it's not as good as it used to be. Nowadays, if you catch 2 fish, you're doing pretty good. Needless to say, we had a great day of fishing. I think we landed a total of 7 or 8. I caught eight trout (1 rainbow, 2 brownies). Dad, I do believe caught 4 or 5. Catch and release, baby!


This is the first fish I landed...Nice Rainbow


This fish was 20" in length

It was still pretty cold when we arrived. My thermometer only registered 46 degrees. It was easily 5-10 degrees colder on the river. It was so cold that I had to put my jacket on.

By 10:30AM, the temperature had risen 15-20 degrees. I had to shed the jacket.

Holy Shit! I look so old in this pic!

Dad didn't catch anything on this cast, but he did manage to catch a few nice fish. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River is listed as Gold Medal Waters. There is no bait fishing allowed down there, so you must use either flies or lures. Because you are not able to keep any Rainbow Trout, the fish can get quite big. In April of 1984, I would catch the largest fish that I've ever caught down here (30" Rainbow). I can remember how much the fish scared me. I was only eleven years old.

"One Last Cast"

Dad's 18" Rainbow