Gunnison County, CO
The Reserve on the East River is an exclusive development near Crested Butte developed around natural amenities including fly fishing. Given the high flows that exist in the East River during the spring, the main river can often be difficult to fish. The Reserve retained ERC to develop a side channel fishery that would be fishable during these high flow periods and also provide a different angling opportunity throughout the fishing season. ERC’s design included evaluating flows in the river and incorporated buried grade control features to regulate the amount of water entering the side channel. A total of 21 individual rock and pool features were then created within the 1,700 foot side channel, providing a great variety of habitat and angling opportunities. Instream features included faster moving, aerated riffles, a meandering low flow thalweg, bobble bars, cascading water features, current deflectors and scour pools.