The Heat is On

Green and Blue

 Lying under  the stars listening to the chirp of crickets and the resonant echo of the river,  my leg dangles off the cot, ahhhh, finally feels like summer and my bones are drying out from the desert heat, I'm in heaven. I notice the car thermometer reads 100 degrees, there's no need for waders the next two nights but wet wading socks come in very handy.

Wild Rose Hips

With rod in hand we bush-wack past the willows, cob webs cris-cross our path and spiders hang from every branch, not advisable if you have arachnophobia. I hold my rod out in front to push the dangling spiders out of the way, eventually we descend onto the river. Ocean green water glistens in the sun and in the distance rising browns sip midges, PMD's and Caddis from the surface. The banks are overgrown with hanging rose hips and willows, a sign of a piece of water that doesn't receive a lot of pressure. Casting must be precious to attract a brown with so many options for them to choose from.

Huskey looking for the next rise.

Bryan spots a brown breaking the surface, we move at the speed of a turtle towards the target, to avoid any surface disturbance that might be noticed, you only have  a couple chance before the brown loses interest.  Bryan makes a cast, the hopper lands upstream about a foot ahead of the target and inches it's way right into the feeding zone, the Brown Trout assaults the hopper, running with it. Bryan eases it to the bank, and nets it carefully. I'm stunned by the vibrant colors of the scales, the cheek is iridescent blue, the red spots stand out like chickenpox's on a child and the belly and fins glow like a pot of gold.  I'm smitten by the beauty of the brown. 

The rest of the evening we work our way up riffles casting to browns underneath hanging willows, the heat bets down on my shoulders and back but with the cool water at my knees, it's a nice balance and I have no desire to escape it when the heat is on.

Beautiful Brown
Photos by Mia