Gunnison River

Wild water through one of America's deepest canyons.

The Gunnison runs roughly 164 miles from the confluence of the East and Taylor rivers at Almont down to its confluence with the Colorado at Grand Junction. Three sections matter most to anglers: the upper river from Almont down toward Blue Mesa Reservoir, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (a National Park), and the Gunnison Gorge below the canyon — a federally designated Wilderness reach managed by the BLM.

CPW designates much of the river as Gold Medal water. The Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge in particular are wild-trout strongholds — large browns and rainbows in remote, hard-to-reach pocket water surrounded by 2,000-foot canyon walls.