Two Colorado river stretches have earned elite status in the fishing world.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission recently proclaimed Gold Medal titles for sections of the Taylor and Gunnison rivers west of the Continental Divide. The sport’s high honor went for 20 miles of the Taylor River below Taylor Park Reservoir and 12 1/2 miles of the nearby Gunnison River from Twin Bridges up to Almont.

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The pair joins a list of 17 other Gold Medal river stretches in Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife designates based on consistently finding at least 60 pounds of fish per acre, along with at least a dozen trout measuring 14 inches or longer per acre.

Three lakes in the state also have Gold Medal distinctions: Spinney Mountain Reservoir, Steamboat Lake and North Delaney Butte Lake.

For longtime anglers of the Taylor and Gunnison rivers, the recent announcement will come as no surprise. In its news release, CPW recognized the sections producing quality trout for decades.

While the Gold Medal title could have come earlier, “it was important to ensure the streams provided long-lasting fish habitat for all life stages of trout,” according to the release.

The rivers have been sampled “quite a few times in the last 10 years,” aquatic biologist Dan Brauch said in the release, “and we continued to see good numbers of quality-size trout and abundant trout.”

A lot goes into a healthy fishery, noted Josh Nehring, the agency’s assistant aquatic section manager: “Just the habitat that goes into it, the monitoring of the fisheries, making sure our regulations are appropriate and we aren’t getting too many fish harvested.”

Area wildlife manager Brandon Diamond expressed hope that visitors would “view these incredible resources through a stewardship lens.”

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