Almost everyone has heard about the monster trout below the dam on the Taylor River and the fishermen that spend countless hours trying to catch them. The catch-and-release section of the Taylor begins just past the base of the dam. This .4-mile section is filled with super-sized trout. I've been up there a couple of times, have seen a few of these fish and have even hooked a couple that I did not land.

The huge trout are a by-product of mysis shrimp in Taylor Reservoir. The shrimp were introduced to increase the growth rate of reservoir trout; however, the light-sensitive mysis immediately fled to the depths of the reservoir to avoid the bright Colorado sunshine. The deep-dwelling shrimp multiplied rapidly, and vast numbers of them are swept out of the dam's bottom-release tube into the river below. Passage through the tumultuous release tube left the high nutrient value shrimp dead or stunned, thus easy prey for trout.