The Taylor River provides some the Colorado's best mountain fishing. The Taylor begins well above the timberline and runs into Taylor Reservoir. Above the reservoir there a number of creeks and beaver ponds that hold a fair amount of Brook Trout.  

Taylor Dam is known for large lake trout and northern pike, some in the trophy size category. The reservoir also has brown trout and kokanee salmon. The best time to fishing the reservoir is in late spring.

The Taylor Dam tailwaters are home to some of Colorado's largest rainbow trout. The tailwaters fairs quite well considering the amount of pressure this section of the river receives. Further down the river travels through a canyon of granite walls and is some areas of dense logpole pines. Its also impressive to see some large boulders in the river, fallen from the walls above. In the canyon it more likely to see more whitewater enthusiast than anglers, but fishing is still good. The river eventually meets with East to start the upper Gunnison river.

Fall fishing on the Taylor is great with hopper/dropper combos or eggs followed by a nymph. Streamer fishing heats up as the water cools and the fish get more aggressive. In the winter, Taylor Canyon doesn't get much sun and the river banks freeze up in many places. But the half mile of catch and release water below the dam never freezes over and sees very little fishing pressure in winter.