Days Like These

[Driftless]

 Did Not Catch A One

 

My friend Rob Gooze and I were way back in the middle of nowhere on the head waters of one of my favorite streams and we saw this awe inspiring rock bluff. It was early spring and the vegetation was just peaking out from its winter hibernation.  The bluff was created by years upon years of flooding in this valley.  The power of mother nature has to be immense to cut through rock like that.  We both took it all in before we went forward.

 

I remember the water conditions well.  The water temperatures were in the low 50s.  The tiny hole below the bluff was the maximum 18 inches deep.   I could see fish moving from quite a distance due to the water being crystal clear.

 

Rob approached the hole carefully in a crouch position, Rob tried to entice the inhabitants to bite with no luck.

I took the above photo after he had no takers and we then walked up to see what was in the small indent below the majestic rock.

There was a small pod of tiny brook trout that lived there.  They numbered less than a dozen. This was their home.  The water above and below was even shallower.  They had to hold tight in their small home because there was no place for them to go.

 

These small residents of Wisconsin's driftless were some of the most beautiful brook trout I had ever seen.  They were neon colored.  It almost looked like they had batteries in them they glowed so in their shallow crystal clear home.

 

We smiled after we admired them and moved upstream.

 

Days like these are why I fish.